During October, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) assessed drug samples across various laboratories and found 56 samples from central labs and 24 from state-regulated labs to be Not of Standard Quality (NSQ).
Additionally, three drug samples collected by Bihar’s Drugs Control Authority were categorized as counterfeit. These were produced by unauthorized and unrecognized entities, imitating products from reputable brands. As a result, an investigation is currently underway.
This routine identification of NSQ and counterfeit medicines is regularly conducted with state regulators, aiming to detect and eliminate these compromised drugs from the marketplace, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
With ongoing regulatory checks, the CDSCO portal publishes a monthly list of substandard and counterfeit drugs.
Drug samples are marked NSQ based on specific quality parameter failures encountered during testing. These failures concern only the specific batch tested, with no implications for other products currently available, it was clarified.