Over 17 Drug Samples from Telangana Found Not of Standard Quality: CDSCO Data
Health officials clarified that drugs declared NSQ are flagged based on laboratory analysis and regulatory review, and necessary action is initiated against the manufacturers and distributors as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
Hyderabad: Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) laboratories in Telangana have identified 12 drug samples as ‘not of standard quality (NSQ)’ during a recent testing, while the Drugs Control Laboratory of Telangana (DCLT) have found five to be in this category.
Findings are part of the monthly NSQ reports compiled by the CDSCO, based on samples tested by Central Drug Testing Laboratories (CDTLs) and state drug control laboratories, including DCLT.
The Telangana-specific NSQ cases include commonly used medicines such as pantoprazole, cefpodoxime proxetil, diclofenac potassium, aceclofenac–paracetamol combinations, pregabalin with nortriptyline, and other formulations. These samples failed quality tests related to dissolution, description, assay, impurity levels, or misbranding, as per Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) or United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) standards.
Several samples tested by DCLT were flagged for non-compliance, while others were tested at CDTL Hyderabad and CDSCO laboratories. The manufacturers of the NSQ drugs are located across multiple states, including Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Haryana, and Uttarakhand, indicating that the issue is not confined to a single region.
According to the CDSCO data, some drugs failed due to excess ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol impurities, while others did not meet dissolution or assay requirements. Certain products were also labelled as misbranded, raising regulatory concerns.
Health officials clarified that drugs declared NSQ are flagged based on laboratory analysis and regulatory review, and necessary action is initiated against the manufacturers and distributors as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
