Nepal has blacklisted 16 Indian pharmaceutical companies, including yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Divya Pharmacy, which manufactures famous Patanjali products.
Nepal's drug regulator Department of Drug Administration (DDA) blacklisted Patanjali products-manufacturer Divya Pharmacy and 15 other companies for failing to comply with the World Health Organization's (WHO) drug manufacturing standards.
The DDA on December Sunday the local agents in Nepal, which have been supplying these medicines, to immediately recall them.
Besides Divya Pharmacy, other blaclisted Indian companies are Radiant Parenterals Ltd, Mercury Laboratories Ltd, Alliance Biotech, Captab Biotec, Aglowmed Ltd, Zee Laboratories, Daffodils Pharmaceuticals, GLS Pharma, Unijules Life Science, Concept Pharmaceuticals, Shree Anand Life Sciences, IPCA laboratories, Cadila Healthcare Ltd, Dial Pharmaceuticals and Mackur laboratories.
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The medicines manufactured by the listed companies cannot be imported or distributed in Nepal, according to the notice issued by DDA.
The list of the companies that do not comply with WHO standards were published after inspection of the manufacturing facilities of the pharmaceutical companies that had applied to export their products to Nepal, according to DDA officials.
In April and July, the DDA sent a team of drug inspectors to India to inspect the manufacturing facilities of pharmaceutical companies that had applied to supply their products to Nepal.
Similarly, the DDA in another notice issued on Monday asked the distributors to recall 500 ml and 5-litre hand sanitisers manufactured by India’s Global Healthcare. The DDA has asked the organisations concerned not to use, sell or distribute the hand sanitiser.
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The surveillance of pharmaceutical companies increased in Nepal after an Indian cough syrup was reported to have caused deaths in Africa's Ghana, according to The Kathmandu Post.
The Post reported, "A few months ago, the department had alerted drug inspectors to step up surveillance to prevent the import and sales of cough syrups manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company after scores of children in Gambia died of kidney failure upon allegedly consuming the syrups.
"The department’s move follows a global alert by the World Health Organisation about four cough syrups that could have links to the deaths of the children in July, August, and September in the West African country."
(With PTI inputs)
