ISLAMABAD: In line with the Supreme Court order of discouraging spurious drugs in the country, the Central Licensing Board (CLB) of the health ministry has suspended for one year the licence of a Lahore-based drug manufacturing firm for allegedly supplying 300 million sub-standard Paracetamol tablets to the governments primary health programme.
A senior official told Dawn that the CLB, an executive board of experts, at a meeting on Wednesday also warned manufacturers that they would be held responsible if any harm comes to any of the officers carrying out investigations.
The board issued the warning after reports that representatives of some pharmaceutical firms had threatened investigators with dire consequences.
The programme was launched to ensure economical and sustainable delivery of primary healthcare to the poor. It envisaged reducing mortality of both mother and infant by 50 per cent and bringing the population growth rate down to below two per cent.
Thirty batches of the medicine supplied to the programme were found grossly sub-standard during a recent test by both the Central Drug Laboratory Karachi and the Drugs Control and Traditional Medicine Division of the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.
The Supreme Court took up a suo motu notice on reports that spurious medicines were being supplied to public hospitals.
Hundreds of samples were taken from different places and the medicine supplied by Shifa Laboratories (Pvt) Ltd was found to be substandard.
During the meeting, eight of the nine members of the Central Licensing Board executive board recommended cancellation of the licence of Shifa Laboratories.
They accused the firm of deliberately violating the Drugs Act 1976 and said that any delay in suspending the licence would be against the interest of the general public.
They also rejected the allegations levelled by the firm against officials responsible for detecting the substandard medicine.
Earlier, the Drug Registration Board had issued to the company a show-cause notice seeking explanation and later provided it an opportunity of hearing. Shifa Laboratories did not respond to both.
The board referred the matter to the CLB which also provided the firm an opportunity to present its point of view.
Mohammad Younus Malik, chief executive of Shifa Laboratories, appeared before the CLB, along with Advocate Sheikh Mohammad Nawaz and argued that the action proposed in the show-cause notice i.e. prosecution in the court, cancellation or suspension of the licence or both was unlawful under the Drugs Act, 1976, but he failed to convince which provisions of the law had been breached by the show-cause notice.
Source: www.dawn.com
Tags: medicines,drug manufacturers
A senior official told Dawn that the CLB, an executive board of experts, at a meeting on Wednesday also warned manufacturers that they would be held responsible if any harm comes to any of the officers carrying out investigations.
The board issued the warning after reports that representatives of some pharmaceutical firms had threatened investigators with dire consequences.
The programme was launched to ensure economical and sustainable delivery of primary healthcare to the poor. It envisaged reducing mortality of both mother and infant by 50 per cent and bringing the population growth rate down to below two per cent.
Thirty batches of the medicine supplied to the programme were found grossly sub-standard during a recent test by both the Central Drug Laboratory Karachi and the Drugs Control and Traditional Medicine Division of the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.
The Supreme Court took up a suo motu notice on reports that spurious medicines were being supplied to public hospitals.
Hundreds of samples were taken from different places and the medicine supplied by Shifa Laboratories (Pvt) Ltd was found to be substandard.
During the meeting, eight of the nine members of the Central Licensing Board executive board recommended cancellation of the licence of Shifa Laboratories.
They accused the firm of deliberately violating the Drugs Act 1976 and said that any delay in suspending the licence would be against the interest of the general public.
They also rejected the allegations levelled by the firm against officials responsible for detecting the substandard medicine.
Earlier, the Drug Registration Board had issued to the company a show-cause notice seeking explanation and later provided it an opportunity of hearing. Shifa Laboratories did not respond to both.
The board referred the matter to the CLB which also provided the firm an opportunity to present its point of view.
Mohammad Younus Malik, chief executive of Shifa Laboratories, appeared before the CLB, along with Advocate Sheikh Mohammad Nawaz and argued that the action proposed in the show-cause notice i.e. prosecution in the court, cancellation or suspension of the licence or both was unlawful under the Drugs Act, 1976, but he failed to convince which provisions of the law had been breached by the show-cause notice.
Source: www.dawn.com
Tags: medicines,drug manufacturers
