Ahmedabad: The state Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) on Thursday busted a racket involved in the illegal production and sale of bulk drug pregabalin across Ahmedabad and Ankleshwar. Pregabalin is a key active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) used in medications to treat neuropathic pain, epilepsy and generalised anxiety disorder.
The crackdown revealed that Estime Enterprise in Ahmedabad was trading the API without a valid licence. Evidence found at their premises indicated the sales of approximately 4,300kg of pregabalin worth around Rs 85 lakh. The investigation led authorities to Axis Pharmachem in Ankleshwar and Iconic Pharmachem in Panoli.
“Iconic Pharmachem was reportedly caught producing pregabalin in their chemical factory despite lacking the necessary drug manufacturing licence, while Axis Pharmachem was sealed for allegedly using its licence to facilitate sales from Iconic Pharmachem for a commission, without generating proper documents,” said FDCA commissioner H G Koshia.
“Nearly 1,000kg worth Rs 21.50 lakh was seized from Iconic Pharmachem in Panoli. A branch of Estime Enterprise in Bharuch was found to be selling pregabalin and other API chemicals without licences and generating their own test reports. From here, 35kg of pregabalin was seized,” Koshia said.
Individuals allegedly involved in this extensive scheme include Nimesh Shah and Harish Ashwin Joshi from Estime Enterprise, Pravin Patel from Axis Pharmachem, Bhavesh Chalodiya from Iconic Pharmachem and Lalit Raiyani from Biocrom Analytical Lab. The analytical lab, which operated without the required licence or legal documents, was found to have been providing test reports via WhatsApp.
