84 drug batches fail quality test, commonly used antacids, diabetes meds among them

NEW DELHI: As many as 84 batches of certain drugs, including some of the commonly prescribed steroids and cholesterol lowering drugs, have been found to be 'not-of-standard quality' in the latest round of inspections carried out by the drug control authorities across the country. The CDSCO, the apex body responsible for approval of new drugs and clinical trials, has issued an alert regarding this. The CDSCO issues alerts about non-standard quality drugs being sold in the market monthly.
According to its latest data, for Dec 2024, they found 84 batches of drugs manufactured by various firms to be of not-of-standard quality.
This includes some of the drugs prescribed for common conditions such as acidity, high levels of cholesterol, diabetes and bacterial infections among others.
Identification of drug samples as NSQ is done based on failure of the drug sample in one or the other specified quality parameters. The failure is specific to the drug products of the batch tested by the govt, officials said. "This action of identifying NSQ and spurious medicines is taken on a regular basis in collaboration with state regulators to ensure that these drugs are identified and removed from the market," she added.
Recently, the CDSCO introduced new guidelines for the inspections. It stated all drug inspectors should collect at least 10 samples in a month; nine samples of drugs and one sample of cosmetics/medical d evice.
Also, new guidelines said, the drug inspectors must plan the sampling in such a way that samples are forwarded to the laboratory on the same day of sampling.
In case of rural location or distant location to office, sample shall be forwarded to laboratory by next day and not later than that, according to the guidelines.