FDA seizes spurious meds from illegal drug-making unit in Sonepat

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Haryana on Monday raided an illegal unit in Sonepat’s Kharkhoda that was allegedly found to be manufacturing and packing drugs without any licence and seized a large number of spurious tablets and capsules of leading pharmaceutical companies.

The department said that a team raided the site situated in the industrial zone of Firozpur Banger area during wee hours of the day. Officials said that the FDA has also detained a man who was identified as Yogesh Kumar, a native of Sirsa district and an FIR was being registered under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Haryana state drug controller Manmohan Taneja said the team seized two blister packaging machines, one compressor machine, an automatic capsule filling machine, one manual capsule filling machine and batch printing machine with scanner.

He said that the department also recovered five gunny bags full of tablets and two drums filled with capsules from the unit that was being operated in a single room without any licence.

“Several printing materials that was used for Azithromycin (brand name: Rick-250), Pantop D SR and Cefixime (brand name: Micoceff-LB 200), which is a third-generation antibiotics were found during the raid,” he added.

All the items were seized and samples of each one of them were sent to the lab for testing.

Officials said that the raid was carried out following several complaints being received by the department that a few men were involved in making medicines illegally at the unit.

“After a verification by senior drug control officer Rakesh Dahiya and others, it was confirmed that the illegal act was being carried out and the raid was conducted during the wee hours of the day,” State drug controller said.

According to the printing materials seized, the companies belong to Solan in Himachal Pradesh and Thane in Maharashtra. Taneja said that the drug control officers of both the places were contacted over phone, and it was verified that no such firms actually exist, which suggests that the addresses printed on the labels were fake.

In fact, Pantop-DSR, an antacid, recovered from the site is a brand name of Aristo Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, a leading drug manufacturer and was being made illegally at the factory.

During the raid, Taneja said that it also came to fore that only blister packing of the pills was carried out at the unit, while the manufacturing was carried out somewhere else.

“The recovery of capsules filling machines suggests that the capsules were made at the site. During the questioning of the accused, all facts will be revealed,” he added.