The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has found that 50 lifesaving drugs produced in India – including some extremely common ones like Paracetamol 500 mg and some vitamin and calcium tablets – were of sub-standard quality.
According to Livemint, the drugs that were deemed sub-standard included Paracetamol 500 mg, Telmisartan anti-hypertension drug, Cuftin cough syrup, Clonazepam tablets used to manage seizures, anti-pain relief drug Diclofenac, multi-vitamins and calcium tablets.
Hindustan Times has reported that 22 of these drugs are manufactured in Himachal Pradesh. The state drug authority has reportedly sent notices to the pharmaceutical companies involved and told them to recall the entire batch of the concerned drug from the market.
“We have received an alert from CDSCO on the samples that failed. From time to time our drug inspectors keep drawing samples of medicines and further action is taken against the erring pharmaceutical companies under the Cosmetic and Drug Act,” state drug controller Manish Kapoor said, according to HT.
“One of every third drug produced in the country is manufactured in Himachal. The quality of the drugs cannot be compromised,” Kapoor continued.
The CDSCO took samples from the market for testing from Waghodia (Gujarat), Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Ambala, Indore and Hyderabad, among other locations.
The Paracetamol 500 mg pills found to be sub-standard were manufactured by Askon Healthcare in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, Livemint reported.
“The failed samples of medicines manufactured in Himachal include medicines related to throat infection, high blood pressure, cancer, pain, bacterial infection, ulcer, cough, allergy, virus infection, acidity, painkiller, itching, and fever. Of these, many medicines were found without a label and a few of them were found to be fake,” HT reported.