TNI Bureau: The Cuttack District Chemist & Druggist Association has cancelled the memberships of VR Agency & Puja Enterprises following the police raids and complaints lodged against them for selling duplicate medicines.
The association has also demanded strong action against the two pharma distributors for selling duplicate spurious hypertension medicine Telma-40.
A FIR was lodged against the two firms at Purighat PS on Saturday.
Earlier, a five-member team from the Directorate of Drugs Control, Odisha conducted raids on multiple locations in Cuttack City, cracking down on the manufacturing and sale of fake medicines.
The team, led by Cuttack Circle-1 Dharmadev Puhan, raided Puja Enterprises and VR Drug Agencies, the drug wholesale points in Manikghos Bazaar, and inspected the stock of two specific medicines manufactured and sold by a bogus pharmaceutical company called Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
“On Tuesday evening, we discovered the sale of suspected counterfeit drugs Telma AM and Telma-40 used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease in Bhubaneswar, prompting us to conduct raids on wholesale points in Cuttack’s Manikghos Bazaar.” “We collected five samples of the two drugs and seized a large stock of tablets,” Puhan said.
During the verification process, it was discovered that VR Enterprisers obtained the stock from Bengaluru, while Puja Enterprises obtained it from Patna, Bihar.
While one sample was sent to Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd for comment and clarification, the rest were sent to the State Drugs Testing Laboratory for testing.
The wholesale druggists who obtained stock of the two suspected counterfeit medicines worth Rs 50 lakh on May 22, 2022, were discovered to have supplied the majority to states such as Delhi, West Bengal, and Gujarat.
“Because this is a sensitive issue, we are doing everything we can to ensure that the products do not reach the patients.” In addition, we have recalled and frozen large quantities of the two drugs from approximately 100 retail medicine shops in Cuttack. While Telma AM and Telma-40 tablets worth ’30 lakh have been frozen so far, the test report is awaited for further action,” Puhan said.