Health department orders to recall batch of ‘spurious’ BP drug used for hypertension
Telegraph | 12 March 2025
The state health department has instructed drug dealers and hospitals to withdraw a particular batch of medicines found to be spurious.
The drug is used to treat hypertension.
In a notification issued on Monday, the health department instructed wholesalers, retailers and hospitals to withdraw the drug with a particular batch number “from the supply chain”.
The notification was issued by Rathindra Nath Ray, deputy director of drugs control licensing authority, on Monday.
According to health department officials, the drug under the scanner is used to treat high blood pressure.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the country’s regulatory body for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and medical devices, found the tablets of the particular batch spurious, senior health department officials said.
The state’s directorate of drugs control had raided a godown in Howrah’s Amta in February and seized strips of this particular tablet.
While drugs worth close to ₹17 lakhs were seized during the raid in Howrah, drug control officials said they feared spurious medicines worth close to a crore had already found their way to the retail markets across the state.
“It is further directed by the Directorate of Drug Control, Government of West Bengal that based on the reply received from the Original manufacturer and on verification of print details including QR codes on the Strip, the mentioned batch of the product attached as Annexure-1 herein is deemed to be Spurious under Sec. 17B(e) of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 as it is not manufactured by its Original Manufacturer...” the notification said.
“The notification has been sent to all government-run hospitals, dealers, retailers, wholesalers, private healthcare institutions and others concerned across the state,” a senior official of the health department said.
“Tablets of the particular batch number must be immediately withdrawn,” the official said.
“We are not sure whether some of these spurious tablets have been consumed already,” said the official.