A scandal rocks India’s pharmaceutical industry

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Concerns about corner-­cutting and poor quality control are the long­-standing flip-side of the rock-­bottom prices that have fuelled the industry’s rise in India

Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe manufacturer in the Uzbek case, Marion Biotech, has been suspended from Pharmexcil, an Indian government-linked trade group that plays a role in pharmaceutical exports; the firm’s website appears to be down. An executive for Maiden Pharma, which produced the medicine used in Gambia, told an Indian newspaper that the company was shocked and saddened by the deaths.

The world’s pharmacy, as India’s drugmakers like to call themselves, is no stranger to scandal. In 2022 America’s Food and Drug Administration issued “import alerts” to four large Indian companies. Such notifications, which usually follow inspections of foreign factories, could lead to exports to America being blocked without physical evidence that a particular shipment is bad.

Concerns about corner-cutting and poor quality control are the long-standing flip-side of the rock-bottom prices that have fuelled the industry’s rise in India in the past few decades. In a new book, “The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India”, Dinesh Singh Thakur, a former industry executive, and Prashant Reddy, a lawyer, document at least five cases of dangerous medications entering the market, each causing multiple fatalities, since the 1970s.

The government’s initial response to the latest tragedies has been lethargic and has lacked a detailed public examination of the relevant supply chains, says Mr Reddy. History offers little hope of a swift conclusion. One case in Mumbai, which involved the deaths of 14 people in a big hospital in 1988, is still being litigated. Such foot-dragging risks the lives of more patients. It also ultimately harms India’s drugmakers, whose health is inextricably bound up with that of their customers.

 

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Everyone who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry has known this for 20 years, hence why many mfg won't do business there. Why is this just now coming to light?

Big pharma still salty that India did not take their vaccines? 😏

'poor quality control' is characteristic of India's industries. They knew about it and have been told by importers.

Where were covid vaccines made?

India supposedly sells really low quality generics to the US Very inconsistent controls Really dangerous There needs to be international regulation What’s the deal with India’s economy?

QC may be a tad suspect.

Spiked with weed killer the Chinese way!

It's high time we say this deport all Indian passport holders. They have no ethics. BoycottIndianProducts they are murdering children

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