Bengaluru: Karnataka health minister UT Khader Monday ordered suspension of an assistant drug controller for failure to lock the wholesale pharmacy owned by alleged kingpin of Bengaluru’s drug racket even after his arrest and spurious drugs were seized from its premises.Officer Omkareshwar failed to act against Krupa Health Care, the wholesale pharmacy at Minerva Circle owned by Veeresh Kumar Jain, who was arrested by Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the drugs racket.“Once the accused was arrested, it was the officer’s duty to seize the stock and lock the pharmacy. When we checked, we found it was still open,” Khader told TOI.The lapse came to light as Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA) intensified action against pharmacies allegedly linked to the distribution of suspected spurious drugs seized from a farmhouse near Bidadi, near Bengaluru, in August. FDA has cancelled licences of 16 wholesale and retail pharmacies and suspended those of eight others. Several of these establishments are located inside hospitals.FDA has cancelled the licence of the main pharmacy at St Philomena’s Hospital, Viveknagar, and one pharmacy at Sagar Hospitals, Kumaraswamy Layout. Licences of pharmacies at Sagar Hospitals, Tilak Nagar, and Surya Speciality Hospital, Bommasandra, have been suspended.A senior FDA official said the action followed SIT findings that Krupa Health Care had supplied drugs to several pharmacies. Action came after the officers found invoices showing drugs from Krupa Health Care had been supplied to them. “Pharmacies failed to provide satisfactory explanations,” the official said, adding the drive has not covered the hospitals’ entire pharmacy operations. Some hospitals have multiple pharmacies on different floors. “We have acted only against those pharmacies where we suspected spurious drugs had been supplied,” the official said.By the time FDA conducted its drive, officials found suspected spurious drug stock had been exhausted. No adverse drug reactions (ADRs) linked to the drugs have been reported so far, officials said. The minister said the govt would now identify patients who may have received the suspected drugs.FDA officials said none of the suspected spurious drugs linked to the case remained in circulation in Karnataka. The batch numbers have been frozen on FDA’s drug portal, blocking sale or distribution.InsetFDA restricts Pfizer drug supplyFDA has temporarily restricted sale and supply of drugs manufactured by pharma major Pfizer in Karnataka, citing alleged non-cooperation during investigations. A Pfizer depot in Nelamangala is among eight establishments whose licences were suspended after investigators found that they had allegedly received supplies from Krupa Health Care.
