CH NEWS
BENGALURU
The Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) has cancelled the licences of 16 pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers and suspended those of eight others, including Pfizer’s depot in Nelamangala, in connection with its investigation into the alleged distribution and sale of spurious drugs.
The action follows the discovery of an alleged large-scale unlicensed drug repacking and relabelling operation at a farmhouse in Bidadi on August 18. The FSDA seized spurious drugs, machinery and printing material worth ₹5.05 crore from the premises.
Following preliminary findings indicating the possible involvement of a wider network, the State government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IPS officer C. Vamsi Krishna.
Health Minister U.T. Khader said the licences of suspicious firms and pharmacies had been cancelled, while some were suspended for allegedly failing to cooperate with the SIT.
The cancelled licences include those of Avesco Healthcare, Bengaluru Speciality Pharma, Patel Medi Trade, N.S. Pharma and Sagar Pharma.
The suspended firms include Sagar Pharma in Tilak Nagar, Surya Speciality Hospital in Bommasandra Industrial Area and Vivanta Pharmaceuticals in Jayanagar.
FSDA advisory
Citizens have been urged to purchase medicines only from licensed pharmacies and insist on valid tax invoices. Consumers should report suspicious packaging and non-functional QR codes on medicine labels. The FSDA said the batch numbers and entries of seized drugs had been blocked on its portal to prevent further sale or distribution. Samples have been sent for laboratory testing to assess their chemical composition, sterility and potency.
