BANGALORE: The Drug Control Directorate has seized huge quantities of spurious drugs ranging from painkillers to epilepsy and cardiovascular medication from seven drug stockists in Bangalore and one stockist each in Doddballapur, Tumkur and Hubli. The seizures are the largest such haul in the State so far.

The directorate came across the spurious drugs while carrying out random raids in pharmacies across the State on May 7. Most of the spurious drugs were manufactured in Maharasthra, Goa, Daman and Gujarat.

The raids led to Satish Sharma, alleged to be a distributor of these drugs.

A case has been initiated against Sharma, who is now on bail, and the 10 stockists. The directorate is still trying to find the manufacturers of the spurious drugs.

Following the raids, Ramakrishna Gandhi, Drugs Controller, Karnataka, said a squad from the directorate visited drug manufacturers, including big pharmaceutical companies such as Ranbaxy, Pfizer, Cipla and Kare laboratories, to ensure that none of the seized drugs was manufactured in any of their laboratories.

"After a series of chemical and physical tests, it has now been confirmed that the drugs are spurious. We are certain that they have not been produced by any of the pharmaceutical companies," Mr. Gandhi added.

Analysis of the drugs revealed that some of them did not have the active ingredient required to treat a specific medical condition. In one batch of Sporidex, the active ingredient was nil. In the case of a batch of Envas, a cardiac drug, the active ingredient was only 26 per cent of that required.

The public has been consuming these drugs for the past six months, according to the directorate. "It is very difficult for the public to distinguish between genuine and spurious drugs. So we have sent a list of the batches of spurious drugs to government and private hospitals and pharmacists across the State," said Mr. Gandhi.

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