Bengaluru: A huge cache of counterfeit medicines worth nearly Rs 5 crore, including injectable antibiotics used to treat critically ill patients, has been seized from a farmhouse in Bidadi, triggering fears that these fake drugs may already have entered hospitals and pharmacies across Karnataka.The state govt is considering setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe what authorities suspect could be an inter-state and possibly international racket.Four people have been arrested following a joint operation by the Food Safety and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Drug Enforcement Wing and police. Officials seized spurious medicines, packaging material and drug-filling equipment worth Rs 4.9 crore from the farmhouse at Kurubara Karenahalli. The premises were reportedly leased by R Prashanth, 36, a medical representative currently residing in Dubai.The operation followed a tip-off that medicines procured cheaply from factories in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana were allegedly being repackaged and relabelled to look like products of reputed multinational pharmaceutical companies. The relabelled drugs were then allegedly sold at prices several times their procurement cost.Health minister U T Khader said the scale of the seizure had raised serious questions about how much counterfeit medicine could already be circulating in the supply chain.“If in one day we get almost Rs 5 crore worth of fake drugs, I wonder how many crores worth of such fake items are already in circulation,” he said.Khader said the possibility of an international racket could not be ruled out. He said he had spoken to home minister Priyank Kharge and would also speak to chief minister D K Shivakumar about setting up an SIT.The seized stock includes injectable broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat serious bacterial infections, including pneumonia, complicated urinary and abdominal infections and infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. This has raised concerns that counterfeit medicines could have reached critically ill patients and potentially affected their treatment.Khader said investigators would now try to trace the movement of the drugs, including identifying intensive care units (ICUs) where they may have been supplied, locating patients who received them and determining whether any patients died or developed complications after being administered the medicines.“Those who have been caught are claiming the operations have been going on for five months, but that is not believable,” Khader said. He also said the involvement of manufacturing units in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana suggested the network was unlikely to be confined to Bidadi.“We will intimate other states and the Centre for further investigation,” the minister said.MODUS OPERANDICheap procurement: Drugs allegedly sourced in bulk from factories in other states for Rs 600-Rs 700 per vial.Repackaging: Contents allegedly transferred into new vials.Relabelling: Labels carrying the names of reputed pharmaceutical companies printed and affixed to the new vials.10x markup: Relabelled drugs allegedly sold for Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 a vial as expensive branded medicines.Inset-1The haulAmong the items seized were 5,640 vials of allegedly mislabelled Ceftivigent 2.5, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections of the urinary tract and stomach, and 1,531 vials of mislabelled Hizlam injectables.Officials also seized 30 boxes of expired drugs and other medicines valued at around Rs 35 lakh.Inset – 2: Quote (with mugshot)“It takes years of research, investment, and regulatory compliance to develop antibiotics and establish their quality and efficacy. Such counterfeiting can erode public faith in pharmaceutical productsDr Satyanarayana Mysore | Manipal Hospital, Old Airport RoadInset- 3:Alert labourer tips off copA group of labourers were working in an agricultural field at C K Tandya village in Dodderi, near Tavarekere, Ramanagara, when one of them noticed a heap of medicine wastes, including vials, tubes and strange packets containing stinky powders. The labourer passed on the information to police constable Shivaraj, who visited the place in plain clothes and took some of the samples with him.“This was how we got the tip-off,” said R Srinivas Gowda, the superintendent of police, Ramanagara. Later, a police team led by P Ravi, the deputy superintendent of police, Magadi division, raided the warehouse, which finally led to the massive haul of counterfeit items.Inset 4Warehouse manager, workers in police netAn investigating officer said R Prashant had leased the warehouse from one Siddaiah about a year ago. Prashant had worked as a medical representative in Bengaluru and in parts of Telangana before moving to Dubai.“With the help of pharmacist Venkatesh, Prashant purchased the fake drugs from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana,” the officer said. Venkatesh is the proprietor of ‘Bangalore Special Life’ in Chamrajpet.On Wednesday, police arrested Venkatesh, warehouse manager and Prashant’s relative Tejas, workers Prabhudeva Gowda and Naveen Kumar and took them into custody.
