Quality check: ‘Don’t confuse substandard drugs with fake products’

PPMA leader Amjad Ali said that a spurious drug was the one that was a fake or produced by unlicensed manufacturers

LAHORE:

Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) leader Amjad Ali said on Saturday PPMA member firms were focussed on manufacturing good quality drugs. “We feel perturbed when substandard drugs are called spurious drugs,” Ali told the media at a local hotel.

He said that a spurious drug was the one that was a fake or produced by unlicensed manufacturers. He said the case of substandard drugs was different as the manufacturers did not usually do anything deliberately in this case. “If regulators detect a substandard drug, the manufacturers are fined.” He stressed the need for a regulator that proactively checked the quality of drugs and took action against any non-compliant manufacturers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.