Kolkata: Around 52 commonly used drugs in the country have been identified as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) during its January review by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) while 93 types of medicines have failed quality testing by several state government’s drug control authorities.
The manufacturers of many of these drugs were based in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Pondicherry. Two widely used medicines one of which is used for heart related treatment and the other used as an antibiotic have failed in the quality test carried out by the drug testing lab in Bengal. The incident poses a significant public health threat and people of Bengal are concerned over the usage of various medicines which are sold in the market.
The flagged batches include paracetamol, heart failure medications and vitamin supplements. Of the 145 NSQ drugs, 52 were identified by Central drug regulators, while the remaining 93 batches failed to meet quality standards in state drug testing laboratories. NSQ drugs are those that do not meet the quality standards set by national or international authorities. Dr Sajal Biswas, general secretary of Service Doctors Forum alleged that Paschim Banga Pharmaceutical company’s medicines, including Ringer Lactate saline which was in question after the Midnapore Medical College incident, have failed quality testing by the Central drug testing laboratory. “This report comes as a major jolt to the pharmaceutical industry and many patients are found to have swallowed these substandard medicines. Patients are in complete darkness if they are having proper quality medicines. Usage of below standard antibiotics will have a major impact on the patients and on the society at large. The Centre should take zero tolerance on this issue and cancel licenses of the drug manufacturers and criminal proceedings should be started,” said Dr G Mukherjee, a city-based physician.
The number of NSQ drugs has been steadily increasing over the past few review cycles. In October 2024, CDSCO flagged 90 drug and formulation samples as NSQ. This number rose to 111 in November, 135 in December and 145 in January 2025.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has listed select batches of 145 drugs and formulations, including medications for hypertension, allergies and nausea, as not of standard quality (NSQ) for January 2025. These include sample batches of Glenmark Pharma’s popular hypertension medication Telma AM and Alkem Health Sciences’ Ondem-4 tablets, used to prevent nausea and vomiting. As part of continuous regulatory surveillance, the CDSCO collects drug samples from sales or distribution points, analyses them and displays a list of spurious drugs on the CDSCO portal on a monthly basis.