In New Delhi, unscrupulous criminals have been caught colluding with hospital pharmacies to refill empty bottles of pricey most cancers medicine with pretend medicines. (Consultant picture: Shutterstock)
The knowledgeable panel beneficial that Schedule H2 of the Medication Guidelines, 1945 be amended to incorporate all anti-cancer medicine and make it necessary to print or affix barcodes or fast response codes on their labels.
News18 has realized that most cancers medicine could quickly require necessary QR codes and monitoring mechanisms as incidents of counterfeit medicines enhance available in the market.
Drug regulator Central Medication Commonplace Management Group (CDSCO) is contemplating a proposal to introduce a “hint and hint mechanism” for oncology merchandise by offering barcodes or QR codes, submitted by an knowledgeable panel of the Medication Technical Advisory Board (DTAB).
India already operates a system wherein the highest 300 best-selling pharmaceutical manufacturers, together with Shelcal, Calpol, Dolo, Allegra and Meftal Spas, carry QR codes or barcodes to confirm their authenticity. The initiative, launched in 2023, goals to weed out substandard and counterfeit medicines from the system.
In keeping with minutes of the DTAB assembly seen by News18, the knowledgeable panel was knowledgeable of a rise in incidents of spurious oncology medicine. The minutes talked about one instance, “In New Delhi, criminals have been discovered colluding with hospital pharmacies to refill empty bottles of pricey anti-cancer medicine with counterfeit medicine. These counterfeit medicine have been then combined with the real merchandise and offered to unscrupulous folks. Cautious most cancers sufferers put their lives in danger.
The panel mentioned the incident involving greater than 140 bottles of faux chemotherapy medicine, which have been initially offered within the open marketplace for round Rs 4 crore, and have been seized by the Delhi Police.
Consultants consider that these anti-cancer medicine should be launched below strict directions to implement “necessary QR code and strict observe and hint mechanism on each bottle and each drug offered in India”.
“DTAB thought of the matter and agreed to the proposed modification to convey all anti-cancer medicine below Schedule H2 of the Medication Guidelines, 1945,” the minutes stated.
The knowledgeable panel beneficial that Schedule H2 of the Medication Guidelines, 1945 be amended to incorporate all anti-cancer medicine and make it necessary to print or affix barcodes or fast response codes on their labels. Below Schedule H2, a pharmacist can not dispense a prescription until he retains a replica of the prescription himself – due to this fact, retains proof of allotting. This places the onus on retailers to make sure that the medicines allotted are real.
The transfer is important amid a rising variety of incidents involving the sale of faux most cancers medicine, together with a number of scams uncovered by state police officers.
Want a foolproof system to make sure error-free dosing: oncologist
Oncologists welcomed the proposal and known as for its fast implementation.
Dr. Gaurav Dixit, Head of Hematology-Oncology Division, Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon, stated that it is a very constructive step for most cancers sufferers as pretend medicines not solely price them cash but additionally price them lives.
“Medication to deal with most cancers are costly, generally costing tons of of hundreds of {dollars} even for a single dose. Due to this fact, these medicine are simple targets. Nevertheless, there isn’t any mechanism to examine the authenticity of bought medicine.
It turns into very troublesome for oncologists to grasp why some medicine do not present the specified results in sufferers regardless of constructive outcomes from scientific trials and different well-documented research, he stated. “There could possibly be a lot of explanation why the drug isn’t displaying the specified impact, however one of many causes is also that the drug is pretend. It’s due to this fact vital that the federal government comes up with suggestions to deal with the issue of counterfeit medicine.
Equally, Dr Satya Prakash Yadav, head of the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Medanta Hospital, advised News18 that there’s “completely no room for error” when producing medicine for sufferers.
“We can not compromise on high quality and nobody can modify the product when it reaches sufferers.”
Yadav maintained, “We do want a foolproof system to make sure zero errors in manufacturing and supply of medicines.”
