Heat renders pills ineffective

Hyderabad: A batch of antibiotics, painkiller tablets and Oxytocin injections, were found to have lost its strength due to exposure to heat while being transported from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh. The drugs, inspected in October, were tested in the laboratory and found to have deteriorated in quality after being transported at temperatures more than 25°C.

The result of these inspections were forwarded to the Union government by Dr B.L. Meena, director general of the Drug Control Administration with a request that there must be a separate policy for transportation of medicinal drugs to various corners of the country. “The quality was affected as the drugs were transported at temperatures over 25°C. While this has been happening for a long time, it is required that we bring about a change and have a special transport system where there is refrigeration and temperatures maintained below 25°C,” Dr Meena said.

The Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association has been demanding that the Centre have a qualified pharma graduate supervise distribution of drugs in the country.

Joint director at Drug Control Administration, G. Dharma Data says, “We have 20,000 graduates passing out of Andhra Pradesh every year and over 82,000 from all over India. Given this huge number, we have a good pool of qualified hands that can be trained to look into the minutest details of transportation. The cases that we analysed were after a random check. There may be many such cases that have not been registered on the users as they don’t have the expertise to understand the exact strength of the medicine.”

A senior officer said, “It is only when the physician or the specialist suspects that the drugs are not having the desired effect that they check on its strength. And given the vast expanse of distribution, there are very few who complain and, hence, recall of batches is minimum.”

Given these anomalies, the IPGA feels that when the best of technologies are available, they must be used to preserve the quality of medicines so that it has the desired effect on patients.