In a fresh round of search on Saturday, the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) seized illegally sold medicines worth ₹3.50 lakh from a warehouse in New Nagole, Uppal Mandal in Medchal Malkajgiri district. It was being run by Salla Santosh without a drug licence, according to the officials.
The officials found eight varieties of medicines, including higher-generation antibiotics, pediatric syrups, anti-ulcer drugs, multivitamins and multimineral medicines stored in large cardboard shipper cartons.
They collected samples for analysis; further investigation is under way.
FSSAI Licence misuse
In another such case on February 17, the DCA had seized 30 Vitency capsules, falsely manufactured under a food licence (FSSAI licence) and marketed as a food product/nutraceutical. The capsules were found on the premises of Sri Bluten Pharmacy in Pet Basheerabad.
The preliminary investigation showed that the capsules were manufactured by Knox Life Sciences in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, and were being illegally marketed by Axenic Healthcare in Malakpet, Hyderabad, as a food product/nutraceutical, said DCA Director-General V.B. Kamalasan Reddy.
The capsules’ label claim presence of vitamins in quantities falling within the therapeutic dose range. Therefore, as per the Schedule-V of Drugs Rules, they must be manufactured only under a ‘drug licence’ issued under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the officials said.
Similar cases of drugs manufactured under a food licence were found by the DCA in November 2023 and January 2024. These drugs were declared ‘spurious’ by the Drugs Control Laboratory, Hyderabad, as the content of the active ingredient was found to be ‘NIL’ (i.e., zero drug) in the said products.
