CHINA has promised action against its pharmaceutical companies involved in shipping fake drugs to Nigeria with ‘Made in India’ labels. The Chinese authorities have admitted the shipments confiscated by the Nigerian government had originated from China and the manufacturers involved need to be punished, a commerce department official has said.
“The Chinese government has communicated to us that the pharmaceutical companies involved in the fake drugs case were indeed from their country. It has also promised that suitable action will be taken against these companies for selling fake drugs and tarnishing the name of another country,” a commerce ministry official told ET on the condition of anonymity. Nigeria’s drug regulatory authority, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac), had confiscated a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic drugs with ‘Made in India’ tags shipped from China in May. The cartons had labels bearing the names and addresses of Chinese manufacturers.
According to Nafdac, had the drugs not been seized, as many as 6,42,000 adults could have been affected. Following the incident, India had put pressure on the Chinese government to act against the rogue companies. Since Africa is an important market for the Indian pharmaceutical industry—accounting for about 15% of India’s total drugs exports worth Rs 30,000 crore every year—it cannot afford to get a bad name in the continent.
“It is important that the Chinese government takes strong action against the errant companies so that others think twice before doing something similar,” the official added. The Kenyan government last month seized two container-loads of medicines shipped from Shanghai bearing ‘Government of Kenya’ labels. India sent a delegation to Africa last month to meet regulatory authorities there and discuss quality norms related to packaging and stamping to clamp down on supply of fake drugs.
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Spurious / fake medicines from China with “Made in India” labels in Nigeria
