Kozhikode: The Central Drugs Testing Laboratory has found that over 40 critical medicines manufactured by leading pharmaceutical companies are either fake or substandard. These drugs include those prescribed for pregnant women, vitamin tablets, and heparin, an anticoagulant given to heart patients, according to a report released by the laboratory. The report added that many of these medicines also lacked the specified amount of chemical ingredients.

Drug controllers in the northern parts of India collected the samples for the tests, which were examined by the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation in August. Incidentally, many of the firms manufacturing the problematic medicines also supply their products to Kerala Medical Services Corporation and private pharmacies in the state.

Other medicines which were found to be fake or lacking quality include antibiotics such as amoxicillin, cepodem and ciprofloxacin; the anti-allergic drugs (antihistamines) montair and fexofenadine; pantoprazol, which reduces acidity; metformin and glimepiride for diabetes; salbutamol for asthma and phenytoin for seizures. All these drugs are commonly prescribed by doctors in Kerala.

However, the pharmaceutical companies under whose brand names the medicines are sold countered the report's findings, saying none of the drugs were manufactured in their factories. According to these firms, the substandard and spurious drugs were produced by small-scale units that had been given a loan licence, under which leading companies allow small enterprises to manufacture drugs for them.