Discount war behind fake medicines, rise in future health hazards, says drug body
Telegraph | 8 March 2025
The largest body of chemists and druggists in Bengal on Friday said the pressure to offer large discounts pushes many smaller retailers to procure drugs from dubious sources that offer popular medicines at a rate lower than prevailing market prices.
The Bengal Chemists and Druggists Association (BCDA) also conceded the presence of fake drugs in stores and added that it was difficult to tell genuine drugs from fake ones at their level.
A recent haul of spurious medicines worth close to ₹17 lakh in Howrah’s Amta revealed that the QR codes used on a certain category of medicines were fake.
The association said the check for fake drugs should be at the central level by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSO) — the national regulatory authority for drugs and cosmetics.
Sankha Roy Chowdhury, the BCDA spokesperson, said: “The maximum discount that small-time retailers can offer ranges between 16 and 20 per cent and can sustain their business. Wholesalers, who are also into retail, can offer this up to 30 per cent. A section of small-time retailers are offering larger discounts to stay afloat in a competitive market and falling prey to the lure of procuring spurious drugs.”
“It is difficult to differentiate fake and original drugs.”
A section of retailers across Calcutta and its adjoining districts said the competitive drug pricing for small-time pharma stores in the neighbourhoods changed after some drug companies began offering huge discounts for online purchases.
Some retailers felt offering huge discounts and ensuring home deliveries were the way out to survive in a fiercely competitive world, they added.
“The prices of drugs have spiralled since the Centre decided to slap GST charges ranging between 12 and 18 percent on an average on almost all categories of drugs. This has resulted in a section of retailers offering huge discounts and procuring fake drugs to make up for the discount,” Roy Chowdhury said.
“Why can’t the Centre do away with GST on medicines?”
Senior BCDA members said buyers could locally check out medicine shops offering huge discounts and see if they abided by the rules and regulations to run a drug store and were reputable.
Senior officials of the state directorate of drug control had seized spurious medicines worth close to ₹17 lakh during a raid at a godown in Howrah’s Amta in February. “Fake QR codes of reputed pharma companies were placed on the medicine packets and foils to trick customers into believing they were buying original medicines,” said an official.
Besides the seized spurious medicines, drug control officials said they feared fake drugs worth close to ₹1 crore had already found their way to the retail markets across the state.
“How can we tell what’s fake and genuine when the QR codes on medicines are being fabricated? We are ashamed that this particular drug dealer in Amta was one of our members. We have suspended him,” said Prithwi Bose, general secretary of the association.
“There are around 40,000 members. Not all are into such malpractices. We have appealed to the officials of the directorate of drug control to make us a part of their team and raid those allegedly dealing in spurious drugs.”
On Thursday, the state health department issued a notice directing the state drugs control authority to ask wholesalers and retailers to stop the sale of non-standard quality (NSQ) drugs, recently identified by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
The notice by Bengal’s principal secretary of health Narayan Swaroop Nigam said the directorate should do “random inspections” at different stores to identify whether non-standard quality medicines were in circulation and initiate action.
“We have already identified the batches of particular medicines that have been marked as NSQ drugs. They have been withdrawn from circulation,” Bose, general secretary of the association, said.