April 3: The State Drug Control Administration (SDCA) began recalling medicines that use the Gatifloxacin and Tegaserod formulations as the Drugs Controller General of India has banned the two drugs. The decision to ban these drugs was taken following the recommendations of the drug technical advisory committee, as the said drugs have harmful side effects and put the people’s health at risk. Gatifloxacin is used in eyedrops and several brands like Zymar, which use the formulation, are easily available in the market. It is available in the form of tablets and in various aqueous solutions for intravenous therapy.

In addition, Gatifloxacin is also used as an anti-bacterial drug for treating respiratory tract infections and certain formulations of the drug are used topically as ophthalmic anti-infective eye drops. It is also used in the treatment of conjunctivitis but it is said to cause diabetes. Tegaserod is sold under the name Zelnorm and is used for the management of irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. However, the use of Tegaserod has been associated with an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes. Officials of the SDCA said that there are 10 to 15 brands of Gatifloxacin available in the market and the same is sold under the trade names Algat, Gapri, Gatiflo, Gaity, Ratigat, Gatispan, Gatiquin, Merigat, Zigat, Gatinac, Gatigo, Biogat, Q-gat and Gatri-oz. Similarly, Tegaserod is available under the name Tegibs.

The director of the SDCA, Mr M. Kodandaram, said, “We received the ban orders two days ago and have asked the assistant directors and drug inspectors to start recalling the medicines from the market. All manufacturers and distributors have been asked to stop the production and distribution of drugs that contain Gatifloxacin and Tegaserod formulations, and all retailers were asked to stop selling the same.” So far, drugs worth Rs 4lakh to Rs 5 lakh have been recalled in Hyderabad alone.