DRAP warns of organized gang distributing fake medicines in different cities
The gang was distributing these medicines to places where people have minimal knowledge of genuine and counterfeit products.
According to health officials, an organized gang is manufacturing and distributing fake medicines from multinational and local pharmaceutical companies to different cities in Pakistan.
Counterfeit medicines, including painkillers, antibiotics, and other life-saving drugs are being supplied to small towns and cities of KP, and Balochistan.
DRAP catches gang packing counterfeit medicines
An official in the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) said that health officials raided a printing press in Mori Gate, Lahore, and caught illegal packing of different life-saving drugs.
“This printing press came to the knowledge of health officials after a huge consignment of spurious and counterfeit medicines was apprehended by officials in Hyderabad district,” an official in the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) reported.
The gang was distributing these medicines to places where people have minimal knowledge of genuine and counterfeit products. Following the arrest of the culprits, a country-wide investigation had been launched to find the criminals behind the prosecution of spurious medicines.
During the raid, officials found counterfeit medicines including Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin ad other antibiotics, painkillers, and anti-psychotic drugs like Alprazolam.
“The persons who were arrested by the authorities in Hyderabad revealed that they were getting the medicines from Multan.” the DRAP official informed.
Investigators also revealed that factories producing such medicine could also be operating in remote areas of Balochistan and KP. They added that they need the assistance of the FIA and other federal agencies to break the network of criminals behind this.
“These criminals are indulging in a far more serious crime than merely producing and supplying drugs and narcotics. For instance, Meropenem is a life-saving antibiotic given to treat serious infections among children including Extensive Drug Resistant (XDR) Typhoid. If a child gets the spurious or counterfeit drug instead of the genuine medicine, he or she would die instead of getting cured”, the official added.
Some experts are of the view that the companies are aware of the counterfeit versions of their medicines, but for goodwill, they never report forgery to authorities.
“For instance, if doctors come to know that a forged version of known antibiotic medicine is being sold in the market, they would not prescribe it and people would not purchase it,” an expert associated with the Pakistan Society of Health-System Pharmacists said.
