Paracetamol is a ‘sub-standard’ drug, fail the quality test

Something is wrong with paracetamol. Have you gotten into the habit of taking antibiotics when there is a problem? So be careful. Turn it off now. The quality of at least 50 medicines, including paracetamol, has been questioned. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization says most of these are substandard drugs. So they issued a warning.

About 50 drug samples were tested recently, including paracetamol and several antibiotics. But they ‘failed’ that test. The country’s highest drug regulatory body has said that the quality of these drugs is not good at all. According to sources, notices have been sent to the pharmaceutical companies that manufactured the drug. At the same time, drugs whose quality has been questioned have been ordered to be quickly withdrawn from the market.

Exactly which drugs have been warned about? The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization said clonazepam tablets used to treat seizures and anxiety disorders, several antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections, including the anti-hypertension drug telmisartan, and some multivitamins and calcium tablets were of poor quality. Caution is advised before using them.

Most of these drugs are manufactured in Himachal Pradesh. Besides, more samples of low-quality drugs were collected from Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Vadodara. Himachal Pradesh has recorded ‘failure’ in drug tests before. Last year alone, 120 medicines manufactured in the state were identified as substandard.

By Banasree Sarkar