FDA cancels 16 pharmacy licences, suspends 8, including Pfizer depot
The Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration has cancelled or suspended the licenses of 24 pharmaceutical firms, including a Pfizer depot, following a probe into a spurious drug racket. The government has formed a Special Investigation Team to investigate the distribution of counterfeit medicines.
Why it matters
This crackdown highlights significant public health risks associated with counterfeit drug supply chains and the government's efforts to regulate pharmaceutical distribution.
The Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) has cancelled the licences of 16 pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers and suspended those of eight others, including the licence of multinational firm Pfizer’s depot in Nelamangala, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the alleged distribution and sale of spurious drugs.
The action follows the department’s investigation into a large-scale unlicenced drug repacking and relabelling racket uncovered at a farmhouse in Bengaluru South district’s Bidadi on August 18. The FSDA had seized spurious drugs, machinery and printing material worth ₹5.05 crore from the premises. When the preliminary investigation revealed the potential involvement of a large network, the State government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by IPS officer C. Vamsi Krishna.
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