Central labs find 47 drug samples to be ‘not of standard quality’: Government | India News

NEW DELHI: Central drug testing laboratories have identified 47 drug samples to be ‘not of standard quality (NSQ)’ in the latest survey. These include some batches of commonly used vitamin supplements, antibiotics and antacids.
Identification of drug samples as NSQ is done based on failure of a drug sample in one or the other specified quality parameters, according to the health ministry. The failure, it said, is specific to drug products of a batch tested by a govt laboratory – a routine process carried out every month. “It does not warrant any concern on the other drug products available in the market,” the ministry said.
State drug testing laboratories have also identified 56 drugs. In Feb, govt had said that one sample from Bengal had been identified as a spurious drug, which was made by an unauthorized manufacturer using a brand name owned by another company. The matter is under investigation, it had said.
Officials stated that NSQ, misbranded, and spurious medicines are regularly identified and removed from the market through coordinated efforts with state regulators.