Although news of fake drugs manufacturers often hit the headlines, the illegal trade still flourishes as unscrupulous businesspeople continue to rely on the steady supply of raw materials at the capital’s Mitford market – the main source of illegal drug ingredients.
There are allegations that several pharmaceuticals legally import the raw materials to manufacture a certain amount of drugs, but they also always order excess amount of materials – which they do not need – that are later sold at the market.
Sources told the Dhaka Tribune that these raw materials lose their efficacy because of improper handling, but are still bought and used by unlicensed manufacturers to produce substandard and fake medicine.
According to existing Drug Policy 2005, the sale of raw materials (active pharmaceuticals ingredients) of drugs in the open market is forbidden. For importing the raw materials, each pharmaceutical also has to submit to the Directorate General of Drug Administration a block list that includes details on the amount of material they need to import for manufacturing a certain medicine.
The DGDA has a ten-member committee which then verifies the needs and the past records of the company, before permitting a company to import a certain amount of raw materials. But there are allegations that some pharmaceuticals – mostly medium and small ones – import extra raw material by applying for excess ingredients.
Maj Gen Jahangir Hossain Mollick, the director general of the DGDA, however, said they did not find any huge irregularity after scrutinising the yearly production of different drug companies. The drug administration was planning to conduct a mobile court drive at the Mitford medicine market soon, the DG added.
Admitting that claims about some pharmaceuticals illegally selling raw materials at the Mitford market were “partially true,” Maj Gen Mollick said that the mobile court drive would reveal if the raw materials being sold there are smuggled products.
The raw drug materials are used to manufacture substandard, fake and adulterated medicines that are offered to patients at lower prices. Most consumers of fake drugs are reportedly villagers who are unaware of the risks of having drugs not prescribed by doctors, and as a result suffer from severe side effects and face further complications instead of being cured.
The illegal drugs manufacturers – who buy raw materials from the Mitford market – fail to maintain the WHO guidelines for good manufacturing practice and more than often do not have the minimum facilities considering infrastructure, equipment and manpower.
According to the DGDA, 653 mobile court drives seized fake, adulterated, smuggled, and date-expired drugs worth around Tk10 crore during 2013. The mobile courts had also handed jail sentences to over 100 people, and fined them more than Tk2 crore.
When asked about the unscrupulous manufacturers, Selim Barami, a DGDA director, admitted that a handful of companies had been producing drugs without following good manufacturing practice, but claimed that the DGDA was trying its best to conduct mobile court drives and ensure safe medicine for people.
Although at least 253 pharmaceuticals are currently manufacturing around 25,000 brand drugs, the national control laboratory of the drug administration had only examined around 9,000 samples between 2011 and 2013. A total of 333 substandard drugs were identified during the time.
Professor ABM Faruq, former dean of the pharmacy faculty of Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune that from his experience in the field, he could name at least 50 registered pharmaceuticals that did not have the minimum facility to manufacture medicine and were active in producing antibiotics and other drugs.
Meanwhile, Monir Hossain, assistant secretary general of Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Somity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the pharmacies only sold the drugs and it was the drug-makers who were responsible for manufacturing the fake medicines. Claiming that the DGDA was not serious about monitoring, Monir called for better supervision by the drug administration.
No action yet against substandard pharmas In 2010, the parliamentary body on the Health Ministry formed a probe team that identified 62 companies as producers of fake medicine. Later it revised the number of companies and placed it at 73, following a second round of inspections in 2013.
Of the 73, the team found 29 companies posed high risks to public health.
A report by the team mentioned that the 29 companies did not comply with the World Health Organisation guidelines in manufacturing drugs.
Asked about what steps had been taken against the accused pharmaceuticals, Golam Kibria, a DGDA director, said the drug administration had issued show cause notices to the alleged companies and sent all the necessary papers to the parliamentary committee on Health Ministry.
The parliamentary body met last month, Kibria said, expressing hopes that the committee would soon suggest taking further actions against the accused companies.