ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Wednesday told the National Assembly that a total of 446 medicines were declared spurious in Pakistan during the last five years by the Federal and Provincial Drug Testing Laboratories.
In reply to a question asked by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) lawmaker Azhar Qayyum Nahra, the minister told the House that upon the receipt of spurious reports from the Central Drugs Testing Laboratory, Karachi, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issues recall alert to its field offices, provincial health departments and the manufacturer to initiate the recall process for said drug to save the general public from possible hazard.
Total Number of medicines/drugs declared spurious in last five years,
List of Medicines/Drugs declared spurious in last 5 years (From 2015 to 2019);
Earlier on Tuesday, the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination told the Senate that three Pharmaceuticals Companies including Everest Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Limited, Ambro Pharma (Pvt) Limited, and Royal Herbal Enterprises Company were sealed in Pakistan during last three years on account of manufacturing of spurious medicines.
Also Read: Pharmaceuticals Companies sealed in Pakistan for manufacturing Fake Medicines
Separately to another question by PML-N’s Sheikh Rohale Asghar, the minister told the Lower House that currently, Allergy Vaccine is being prepared at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Chak Shehzad, Islamabad against 10 allergens i.e. pollen, dust, paper mulberry, thresher dust, raw cotton, fish, rice, chicken, egg, and meat in 20 different compositions.
The minister told that approximately 20,000 vials (one vial contains 10ml vaccine: one course for three months) of allergy vaccine are manufactured on monthly basis. He added that it majorly depends on patient flow which varies as per seasonal changes & accordingly the production capacity can be increased upto 25000 vials/month.
In addition, he told the House that diagnostic testing and vaccine for treatment of allergy patients is only available at the NIH Allergy Centre.
Tags: spurious medicines in Pakistan, medicines in Pakistan, DRAP,
