HYDERABAD: After conducting tests on the seized insulin injections for over two months, the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) suspended the licences of six wholesellers for 30 days on Monday.
The six wholesellers whose licences have been suspended are Drug Hub (Padma Rao Nagar in Secunderabad), Sree Thirumala Pharma (Ramanthapur in Uppal), Shree Paras Medical Agencies (Vittal Maruthi Lane in Sultan Bazar), Sri Ganesh Pharma Distributors (Sai Nagar colony in Nagole), Sree Raja Rajeshwara Distributors (Jai Jawan colony in Kapra, Malkajgiri) and Sri Balaji Agencies (Kutbiguda in Kacheguda).
The raids on these six “elite category” wholesellers were first carried out in March when officials discovered that the accused had allegedly procured the drug illegally from Delhi-based sources without an invoice. Stocks worth Rs 51.92 lakh were confiscated.
“As a norm, any pharmaceutical transaction should have a purchasing bill to make it legitimate, but none of these sellers had it,” a DCA official told TNIE.
Another suspicion that caught the authorities’ attention was that the wholesellers were selling these pre-filled syringes (PFS) at a discount of over 40%. “Usually, there are two reasons why sellers offer such huge discounts: either the drug is spurious or it is illegally supplied,” said the official, adding that the ready-to-use syringes resemble a pen.
“They were mostly selling the insulin injections to small wholesellers or retailers, who would in turn pass them on to individuals,” pointed out the official.
While the ceiling price (MRP) on one of the variants of the injections was Rs 5,263, the accused wholesellers were putting it out in the market for Rs 2,070 — a drop of nearly 75%. According to officials, the large discount indicates that the supply of injections was bypassed.
“As these are imported injections, we got them tested at our laboratory and sent them to the importer’s lab after seizing them in March. The report suggested that they were not counterfeit drugs, which could mean they were meant to be supplied to another entity, either for government use or to be obtained by another institution through a tender,” the official explained.
In addition to the suspension, the authorities are in the process of filing prosecution cases against the accused wholesellers. They have also identified two entities in the supply chain in New Delhi and shared the details with Delhi police. “Apart from Hyderabad, it is possible that Delhi-based sources might also be supplying these injections to other cities as well,” he added.
“This action serves as a message to sensitise other wholesellers in the city as well,” said the official.