Gurugram: Glenmark, the company that makes the genuine Telma-AM brand, has confirmed in writing to the authorities that Telma-AM tablets seized in Gurugram were counterfeit and carried forged packaging, according to court records reported by Medical Dialogues. Telma-AM, a combination of telmisartan and amlodipine, is a commonly prescribed medicine for hypertension, or high blood pressure — yaani, a daily tablet that lakhs of patients take to keep their blood pressure under control.
Source: Medical Dialogues
The investigation began on July 16, after a brand-protection associate from Glenmark alerted drug-control officials to suspected spurious Telma-AM tablets circulating in the local market. A joint Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) team then inspected two retail pharmacies in Sector 52 — SDL Pharmacy in the HUDA Market and DS Pharmacy at High Street-52. Purchase records at DS Pharmacy led investigators to Lucky Pharma Logistic Private Limited, a wholesale distributor in Udyog Vihar Phase VI, where officials seized 178 strips containing 2,670 tablets.
Chain traced through Delhi and Patna to Kashipur
Bills produced at the wholesaler named another Gurugram supplier, Madan Medical Agencies, which led officials to Shri Balaji Pharmaporium, a wholesale firm in Okhla, Delhi, inspected by joint teams on July 17; investigators allege that purchase bills submitted in the chain were forged. The probe then traced the alleged network to Bihar, where shipments were linked to two Patna-based entities, Pangea Enterprises and Zet Private Limited, and named Suvrat Dwivedi, Zubair, Vipin Kumar and Pardeep Kumar among the alleged intermediaries — all of these roles remain allegations to be tested in court.
Investigators finally reached Kashipur in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, where a team searched the premises of Aushi Immunosciences Private Limited in the presence of its director Maneesh Singh, 49. Officials seized two rotary tablet presses and an Alu-Alu blister-packaging machine, and recovered remnants of blister foil that reportedly matched the Telma-AM packaging. A case was registered at Gurugram's Sector 40 police station on September 28 under provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act relating to spurious or adulterated drugs.
PharmaBiz, in its separate report on the Haryana FDA action, said the Gurugram zone had busted a racket distributing spurious Telma-AM bearing batch number 05251007A, with labels falsely claiming manufacture by Glenmark at its Baddi plant in Himachal Pradesh, and that a genuineness verification report from Glenmark's Baddi site established the samples were imitation products not made by the company. It cited State Drug Controller Ripan Mehta as saying formal charges had been filed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Source: PharmaBiz
Court grants bail; department to challenge it
Additional Sessions Judge Sudeep Goel granted regular bail to Maneesh Singh, who had been in custody since his arrest on September 28. The court noted that the prosecution had filed its chargesheet without an official Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, and observed that the recovery of packaging remnants and a heap of tablets, by itself, was insufficient to establish a prima facie case of manufacturing spurious drugs without chemical testing results. Singh's alleged involvement and culpability would have to be determined at trial, the court held, ordering his release on a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety.
Drugs Control Officer Amandeep Chauhan told The Indian Express, as reported by Medical Dialogues, that the main accused, Suvrat Dwivedi, had also been granted bail, and that the bail order would be challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.