In a major crackdown to curb sale of fake medicines, the government is all set to cancel licences of 18 pharma companies, NDTV report said.

It said all 18 listed pharma companies have been asked to stop manufacturing medicines.

The report also said the show cause notices have also been issued to 26 pharma companies.

The crackdown, the report said it a part of the government’s effort to curb the menace of spurious medicines in India and abroad.?

The Drugs Controller General of India had conducted inspection on 76 pharmaceutical companies, it said.

It said the action has been taken across 20 states in the country.

The campaign has been on for about 15 days, it mentioned.

The raids come amid reports of deaths and illnesses from Indian drugs from several nations, it stated.

It also mentioned last month’s instance of Gujarat-based pharma company Zydus Lifesciences when over 55,000 bottles of a generic medication used to treat gout from the US market were recovered, while the medicine had failed impurities specifications.

In Noida, near Delhi, three employees of a pharmaceutical firm were arrested after their cough syrup allegedly led to the death of 18 children in Uzbekistan last year, it mentioned.

The firm, it stated was of manufacturing and selling adulterated drugs.

The Central and Uttar Pradesh drug authorities had checked samples of Marion Biotech products and found 22 of them "not of standard quality", it mentioned.

It also stated ?a Chennai-based pharmaceutical company had to suspend production of a line of eye drops after US health authorities said they could be contaminated with a drug-resistant bacteria that have been linked to reports of permanent vision loss and one death in February.

EzriCare Artificial Tears eye drops, manufactured by Global Pharma Healthcare, was apparently linked to cases of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, which affected at least 55 people in the US, it mentioned.
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