Fake antibiotics worth Rs 1.33 crore seized in Telangana pharma raid

Officials in Telangana seized spurious antibiotics worth Rs 1.33 crore from a pharmaceutical company, accused of exporting fake drugs to Russia and violating the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

In Short

• Rs 1.33 crore in spurious antibiotics seized by DCA officials
• Drugs falsely exported under another firm’s name to Russia
• Drug samples sent for analysis; offenders face legal action

Telangana’s Drugs Control Administration (DCA) seized spurious antibiotics worth Rs 1.33 crore during a raid on a pharmaceutical facility at Biotech Park in Siddipet district’s Karakapatla area. The company was allegedly exporting drugs manufactured by other firms to Russia under false labels.

DCA officials, acting on credible information, raided the facility on November 26 and discovered large stocks of mislabelled antibiotics in the Finished Goods Warehouse. The drugs violated provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Among the seized drugs was a batch of Ampicillin Sulbactam injections (Batch No. JD4479), falsely labelled as manufactured by Jodas Expoim Pvt. Ltd. and Alpa Laboratories, Indore. Investigations revealed the batch was actually produced by a different company in Cherlapally, Telangana.

Further inspections revealed other mislabelled antibiotics, including Amoxicillin and Meropenem, had already been exported to Russia in October and November. These exports were falsely claimed to be from the accused company.

The operation was led by Assistant Director P. Ramu and Drugs Inspectors S Vinay Sushmi, Karthik Siva Chaitanya, T Shiva Teja, and P Chandrakala. Samples have been sent for analysis, and further investigations are underway. Legal actions will be taken against those involved, officials confirmed.

The DCA has been actively going after illegal and overpriced sales of pharmaceuticals in the state. Earlier this year, in February and March, the DCA busted several such illegal units.

On February 20, the DCA seized 118 kg of illegal drugs worth Rs 5.50 lakh, manufactured by a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, which was asked to stop production a year before.

On February 27, the authorities seized huge quantities of overpriced injection vials of antibiotics from Nizamabad district. The overpriced antibiotics were seized for being sold at nearly double the cost of the government-sanctioned price.