NEW DELHI: India’s apex drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), has flagged 159 medicine samples as “Not of Standard Quality” (NSQ) during its routine pan-India surveillance conducted in May. The regulator also detected one spurious drug sample in Assam.
According to the latest monthly drug alert issued by the CDSCO, central drug laboratories declared 46 samples as NSQ, while state drug testing laboratories identified 113 substandard samples. Medicines are categorized as NSQ when they fail to meet one or more prescribed quality parameters during laboratory testing.
The CDSCO clarified that these findings are strictly limited to the specific batches that were tested. The alert does not imply that other batches of the same products currently available in the market are defective.
Alongside the substandard batches, the regulator identified a spurious drug sample in Assam. The sample was allegedly manufactured by an unauthorized entity using a brand name owned by another pharmaceutical company.
The regulator stated that the Assam case is currently under active investigation, and formal action will be taken under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules.
The monthly surveillance exercise is carried out by the central regulator in close coordination with state drug authorities to identify and eliminate substandard and spurious medicines from the domestic market.
