The officials from the department of drugs control administration of Gujarat raided two pharmacies in the districts of Baroda and Surat, and cancelled their trade licences following the information received from public sources that there medicines of all categories are sold in illegal manner to the people of neighboring states by the way of courier services by online booking.
Further to the departmental action, the enforcement agency has forwarded the case to the police for legal action against the illegal medicine trade, said Dr H G Khoshia, Commissioner of Food and Drugs Control Administration, Gujarat.
“The pharmacies were doing illegal and unethical business of medicine sales. Without any regulatory approval, they were selling it to the people of other states. Such kind of drug sale is not permitted and is difficult to control. The pharmacies were selling the medicines on online booking from neighboring states. We immediately stopped it and checking is going on”, he said.
About the controversial e-pharmacy system, the Commissioner said since there is no specific law enacted for regulating the online sale of pharmaceutical products and mixed responses continue among the stakeholders, it remains as a gray area and is unable to be regulated.
Dr Khoshia was speaking to Pharmabiz on the sidelines of the inaugural function of the ‘PharmaTech Expo 2016’ in Ahmedabad. He said the enforcement agency is struggling to regulate the online sale due to lack of proper legal support. In spite of constraints, the department does not allow e-pharmacy in Gujarat.
When asked about presence of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) in the market, the FDA commissioner responded that there were some legal hurdles to control the FDCs as several cases were pending with various courts in the country on the issue. But, he said FDC products are still rampant in the market.
To another query, he said his department faces no shortage of inspecting officers or any other officials. Department is vigilant on cross-border supply of medicines and strict action is taken if any anomaly is detected.
Thanks : Pharmabiz
No comments:
Post a Comment