ISLAMABAD
\nHealth authorities have directed five pharmaceutical companies to recall medicines\/over-the-counter (OTC) products that have been found to be spurious.
\nAccording to a document available with Dawn, the medicines were tested at the Punjab Drug Testing Laboratory in Faisalabad and were found to be spurious.
\nThe medicines include immune stimulant \u201cLiquid Amco E Sel 1,000ml\u201d manufactured by M\/s Amcon Vets Pharma, \u201cLiquid Liver Gold 1,000ml\u201d manufactured by M\/s AL-Fateh Trading Company and \u201cPowder. Paracetamol Plus\u201d manufactured by M\/s Vibra Pharma (Pvt) Ltd.
\nMoreover, \u201cPowder. Flusher 7 Plus\u201d manufactured by M\/s Horbax Enterprises and \u201cPowder. Prima Flash\u201d manufactured by M\/s Primax Company were also found to be spurious.
\nAs per the document dated Feb 22, retailers (pharmacies, medical stores), wholesalers, distributors, and health facilities have been directed to stop the dispensation of these products and update the respective area drug inspectors on their current inventory and consumption.
\nThe drug inspectors have been directed to increase surveillance in the market to monitor the availability of the defective products.
\nConsumers, healthcare professionals, and patients have been advised to stop the use of the said batches as they may pose risk to health.
\nDawn tried to contact the companies concerned for comment through sources in the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) and the health sector, but they were not aware of them. They mentioned that these companies deal in nutraceuticals or over-the-counter products and are relatively new in the market.
\nDirector General, Health, Punjab Muhammad Sohail, while talking to Dawn, said that all five companies were manufacturing spurious medicines and police had been contacted to register FIRs against them.
\n\u201cWe are trying to trace their owners and strict action would be taken against them,\u201d he said.
\nA member of the PPMA, Arshad Mehmood, told Dawn that those companies were not member of the association.
\nIt is worth mentioning that last month, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) had directed the pharmaceutical companies to recall nine contaminated syrups.
\nDuring the past three months, the regulator has found seven pharmaceutical companies involved in producing syrups with high proportions of propylene glycol (PG), a prohibited substance.
\nDrap chief executive officer Dr Asim Rauf said that in January nine syrups, manufactured by five pharma companies, were found contaminated, taking the number of companies involved in producing contaminated syrups to seven as two such companies were found in December.
\nLast month, the regulator seized a batch of PG imported from a Thailand-based company after detecting impurities.
\nThe acceptable level of impurities in PG excipient \u2014 used in cough syrups \u2014 is 1.1 per cent, and any contamination above that level can lead to multiple organ failure.
\nThe batch, imported from Thail\u00adand, had an impurity level of 25pc.
\nAccording to a document issued by Drap, upon ingestion, PG impurities \u2014 also called ethylene glycol (EG) \u2014 metabolise into toxins that affect the central nervous system and heart, and can cause kidney damage, which can be fatal.
\nThe issue of poisonous syrups caused global embarrassment for Pakistan in December 2023 when the Maldives informed about contamination in medicines imported from Pakistan.
\nThe South Asian state claimed that substances found in the syrups were used in hydraulic brake fluids, stamp pad inks, paints, plastics and cosmetics.
\nThe World Health Organisation also issued an alert regarding the products of a Lahore-based pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Health authorities have directed five pharmaceutical companies to recall medicines\/over-the-counter (OTC) products that have been found to be spurious. According to a document available with Dawn, the medicines were tested at the Punjab Drug Testing Laboratory in Faisalabad and were found to be spurious. The medicines include immune stimulant \u201cLiquid Amco E Sel 1,000ml\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-389531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n