LUCKNOW : Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) officials have issued a statewide alert in wake of reports that spurious live-saving cancer drugs and other fake medicines were being supplied in different parts of Uttar Pradesh. The focus is on identifying drugs similar to the ones found during a crackdown by the Delhi police on a racket in UP’s Ghaziabad and Haryana’s Sonepat, said an official.
Seven people, including an MBBS doctor and owner of a pharmaceutical factory, were arrested by the crime branch of the Delhi police for allegedly manufacturing spurious medicines and supplying them in India, China, Bangladesh and Nepal as genuine life-saving cancer medicines. A total of 20 international brands of cancer medicines worth over ₹8 crore were seized from the arrested persons.
“Spurious anti-cancer drugs, packing material, sticker labels, cartons, syrup bottles, along with batch printing machine, were recovered from the illegal packaging unit in Ghaziabad on November 11,” said AK Jain, drug controller, Uttar Pradesh.
“The gang operating this illegal unit had people with B.Tech, MBBS and other professional degrees. But our key concern now is where all these medicines have been supplied, and for this, we have circulated details of the make and labels to our drug inspectors across the state,” added Jain.
Samples from the recovered stock have been sent to labs to analyse what was used to make these fake drugs.
