Listen to Story Calcium and vitamin D3 supplements, anti-diabetes pills, high blood pressure medicines and other drugs have failed quality tests by India's drug regulator. In its latest monthly drug alert list , the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) declared more than 50 drugs as "Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Alert." NSQ alerts are generated from random monthly sampling conducted by state drug officers.
Vitamin C and D3 tablets Shelcal, vitamin B complex and vitamin C softgels, antiacid Pan-D, Paracetamol tablets IP 500 mg, anti-diabetic drug Glimepiride, and high blood pressure drug Telmisartan, and many more are among the 53 top-selling drugs that failed the quality check by the drug regulator. These medicines are being manufactured by Hetero Drugs, Alkem Laboratories, Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL), Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. A widely used drug for treating stomach infections , Metronidazole, produced by PSU Hindustan Antibiotic Limited (HAL), is among those that failed quality tests.
High blood pressure drug Telmisartan did not pass the test. (Photo: Getty Images) Similarly, Shelcal, distributed by Torrent Pharmaceuticals and manufactured by Uttarakhand-based Pure & Cure Healthcare, also did not pass the test. Additionally, a Kolkata drug-testing lab has deemed Alkem Health Science's antibiotics Clavam 625 and Pan D as spurious.
The same lab identified Hyderabad-based Hetero's Cepodem XP 50 Dry Suspension, prescribed for children.