New Delhi: The ministry of health and family welfare’s nationwide survey on the extent of fake drugs in India is finally complete. The official report will be submitted to the Drug Controller General of India early next week.
“We collected and tested more than 24,000 samples to find out if they are spurious (or fake), counterfeit or sub-standard. Our suggestion to the center will be to have an ongoing study and not just end here,” said D. Roy, deputy drug controller, north zone, who led the survey.
According to trade journal ‘Pharmabiz’, of the 24,000 samples, only around 10 were found to be spurious. This is on a par with another study conducted by SEARPharm, which had put spurious drugs at 0.3% of the 10,000 samples it collected.
Based on a model prepared by the Indian Statistical Institute, Hyderabad, the survey spread over a year and collected medicine samples from every state.