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Health Ministry to ban 343 combination medicines

The ban is expected to shave off over ₹1,500 crore from India's ₹1.18 lakh crore worth pharmaceutical industry. However, the ministry stated that these medicines are adversely affecting people’s health after consumption.

Health Ministry to ban 343 combination medicines
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In regard to safety concerns, the Health Ministry decided to ban 343 medicines after consultation from its advisory body. The medicines were prepared using combinations and were known as fixed-dose medicines and are on the verge of being scrapped after, Health Ministry’s department, Drugs Controller Governor of India (DGIC) stated that these combination medicines are hazardous for people to consume. Several cough tablets and diabetes medicines have been banned, including tablets like Torex, etc. whereas Vicks Action 500 Extra has been exempted from the banned Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs list as per the recent notification issued by the Health ministry.

This prohibition is said to be a financial debacle for various pharmaceutical companies such as Cipla, Sun Pharma, Wockhardt.

The consumption of the fixed-dose combination medicines had risen in the market which alarmed several activists and eventually, they wrote to DCGI demanding a ban on these drugs as they were being haphazardly consumed and were lethal for the patients. In response, the DCGI intervened and imposed a ban on more than 343 fixed-dose combination medicines, two years ago which eventually, led to a shutdown of more than 6000 brands.

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After which, pharmaceutical companies approached the Supreme Court, who had issued a stay order on the ban. After which, during the hearing of the petition filed by pharmaceutical companies, DCGI displayed how the medicines were causing serious damage to the people consuming them. The court then ordered DCGI to make a call upon the ban of medicines.

Due to which, DCGI’s Drug Technical Advisory Board suggested an immediate ban on 343 combination medicines. After the recommendation, DCGI has now finally imposed a ban on these medicines and so, these 343 medicines would not be available in the market. 

The pharmacist community has welcomed the decision stating that these medicines took a toll on people’s health and the ban is justified. 

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