Ahmedabad : On Thursday, Gujarat’s food and drugs authority raided a pharmaceutical plant in Hajipur, in Kalol taluka of Gandhinagar district, that was packing antibiotics to Nigeria, based on a fake certification, said food and drugs commissioner H G Koshia. He added that the raw material seized from the location has been sent for laboratory tests.
“We have seized raw material and packaging items worth Rs 63 lakh. The alleged factory, Sunlovis Pharmaceutical LLP, Ahmedabad, was allegedly packing antibiotic drug called “Exaclav-625 Co-Amoxiclav Tablet BP” and was using an alleged fake certification of Ms Finecure Pharma, a company based in Uttrakhand, Koshia said.
“What has intrigued us was that the cartons and other packaging material had printed on them that the drug was manufactured by Nicholson Healthcare and was marketed by Exagon Pharmaceuticals located in Abuja in Nigeria. We are investigating whether these spurious antibiotic drugs were pumped into the Indian market as well,” Koshia added.
The carton also claimed that the drug was manufactured under licence from Brussels Laboratories Pvt Ltd. “Sunlovis also manufactured another drug for which they had no approval for, called Exatil,” Koshia said.
He said that the company was functional for last three years. “The extent of the scam is being analysed by a team of Gujarat FDCA. The owner of the alleged firm Pravin Chaudhary is being questioned, which will help us understand its extent,” added Koshia. A senior FDCA official revealed that all the cartons had manufacturing date as January.
