BENGALURU: The fake drug racket busted near Bidadi on Tuesday could be part of a nationwide network, with spurious medicines allegedly sourced from Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and other states, relabelled with multinational brand names and supplied to hospitals and pharmacies in Karnataka, health minister UT Khader said on Wednesday.The government is considering forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe what Khader described as an “international and interstate” racket.“If one day we get almost Rs 5 crore worth of fake drugs, I wonder how many crores worth of fake drugs are already among people,” Khader said, adding that the probe would seek to uncover the entire network, including suppliers, logistics operators, agents, middlemen, hospitals and pharmacies.The Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Enforcement Wing on Tuesday seized medicines and materials worth Rs 4.91 crore from an unlicensed repacking and relabelling facility at a farmhouse in Kurubarakaranahalli, Bidadi.The FDA said the operators were procuring lower-cost medicines from other states, refilling them into new vials and relabelling them to resemble expensive multinational and imported brands, including Pfizer. The seizure included 5,640 vials of Cefiavigent 2.5, 1,531 vials of Hizlam injectables, 30 boxes of expired drugs and other medicines, besides injection-filling machinery, forged labels and packaging material.Khader said the farmhouse from where the spurious drugs were seized belonged to one Siddaiah and had been leased by Dubai resident Prashanth, whose relative Tejas was allegedly operating it locally. Prabhu Dev Gowda, who was working there, has been caught, he said.“The drugs were being procured from Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and other states, where fake drug factories are operating, and were bought at cheaper prices. Here, they were being relabelled with imported brand names and distributed to hospitals and pharmacies,” Khader said. He added that some of the mislabelled medicines may have been used in ICUs.The Ramanagara SP is investigating the case, while the FDA and police are conducting a joint probe, Khader said. He added that information would also be passed on to Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and the Centre for a nationwide investigation.“I have spoken to Karnataka home minister Priyank Kharge and will speak to chief minister D K Shivakumar about forming an SIT,” he said.The probe will examine the size of the network, those handling logistics, agents and middlemen, the vehicles used to transport the drugs, and the hospitals and pharmacies that received them. It will also ascertain in which ICUs the medicines were used and how many patients were treated there over the past two years, including whether there were deaths or complications, he said.“If they have two factories in Telangana and Himachal Pradesh, it won’t only be for Bidadi,” he said.Samples of the seized medicines have been sent for laboratory testing to verify their chemical composition, sterility and potency. The FDA has also blocked the batch numbers and entries of the seized drugs on its portal to prevent further sale or distribution.The accused have claimed the operation had been running for five months, but Khader said this would have to be verified through the investigation. A police complaint has been lodged at Tavarekere police station.
