China owns up Nigerian fake drugs cargo

NEW DELHI: China has promised to take action against its pharmaceutical companies involved in the shipping of fake drugs to Nigeria with `made in India��� labels. The Chinese authorities have admitted that the consignments 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, who did not want to be named, told ET.

The Nigerian Government Drug Regulatory Authority (NAFDAC) had confiscated a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals with `Made in India��� tags shipped from China in the month of May. The cartons had labels with names and addresses of the Chinese manufacturers written on them. According to NAFDAC, had the drugs not been seized, it could have affected as many as 6,42,000 adults.

Following the incident, India had put pressure on the Chinese government to act against the rogue companies so that it acts as a future disincentive for other companies to try and pull off a similar misdeed.

Since Africa is a very 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 very important that the Chinese government takes strong action against the companies so that other companies think twice before doing something similar,��� the official added.

The Kenyan government, too, seized two container-loads of medicines shipped from Shanghai last month bearing a `government of Kenya��� label falsely indicating that it was manufactured in Kenya.

India sent a delegation to Africa last month meet regulatory authorities and discuss various quality norms related to activities such as packaging and stamping which could be put in place to ensure that supply of fake drugs is minimised.