Paracetamol and 50 other common Indian medicines fail quality test

In a concerning development for public health, the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) of India has flagged more than 50 commonly used medications as ‘Not of Standard Quality’ (NSQ) in its latest monthly report.

The list includes widely consumed drugs such as paracetamol, Pan-D (a pantoprazole brand, used for acidity), calcium supplements and several medications for high blood pressure and diabetes, all manufactured in India.

The identified products were found to fail quality control checks, raising concerns about their safety and efficacy.

Major drugs that failed quality testing

Among the flagged drugs are:

• Paracetamol (500 mg) – a commonly used pain reliever and fever reducer

• Pan-D – an anti-acid medication

• Shelcal – a popular calcium and Vitamin D3 supplement

• Glimepiride – a medication for diabetes

• Telmisartan – used to treat high blood pressure

• Vitamin C and D3 tablets – commonly consumed supplements

• Metronidazole – a widely prescribed antibiotic for treating intestinal parasite infections

The central drug regulator issued two lists — one with 48 drugs that failed the quality tests and another with 5 drugs in the NSG Alert category, which implies the medicines are spurious, adulterated or mislabelled. The response from their manufacturers was attached.

This comes right on the heels of finding talcum powder and other inactives being passed off as 'antibiotics' just this week.

Of the list now indicted by CDSCO, some of these drugs were manufactured by well-known pharmaceutical companies such as Hetero Drugs, Alkem Laboratories, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL), Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Pure & Cure Healthcare, reported the Hindustan Times.

Of the drugs labelled as potentially spurious, a drug-testing lab in Kolkata flagged Clavam 625 and Pan-D manufactured by Alkem Health Science. The same lab deemed Cepodem XP 50 Dry Suspension, an antibiotic used for children's infections, as substandard, reports India Today.

Manufacturers have, however, denied responsibility for these drugs.

‘The actual manufacturer (as per label claim) has informed that the impugned batch of the product has not been manufacturer by them and that it is a spurious drug. The product is purported to be spurious, however, the same is subjected to outcome of investigation,’ the column for the drug makers' reply read.

Needless to say, the quality of essential medications such as vitamins, antibiotics and chronic illness in not only a failure of healthcare efforts, but a patient safety issue.

In August, the CDSCO had already banned over 156 fixed-dose drug combinations across the country for “likely risk to humans”, reported the Hindustan Times. These included popular fever, painkiller and allergy medications.

And now, it would seem the public can't even trust the likely-safe options!