- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: The government has banned 156 cocktail medicines including antibiotics, painkillers, and multivitamins after a review found that they posed health risks. The list of these banned drugs includes those used for hair growth, skin care, and pain relief or as multivitamins, antiparasitics, antiallergics, and more.
Fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) are drugs that combine more than one drug in a single pill and are also called ‘cocktail’ drugs. While drug makers have not yet announced the economic impact of the ban, some products of major pharma companies like Cipla, Torrent, Sun Pharma, IPCA Labs and Lupin have been affected by the ban.
According to the gazette notification issued by the government, the use of these 156 fixed-dose combination (FDC) drugs is likely to pose a risk to humans even though safer alternatives are available. An expert committee appointed by the Centre investigated the matter and found these FDCs to be irrational. The government has clarified that the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) also examined these medicines and recommended that the medicines included in these FDCs have no meaning according to medical science.
Some Medicines Already Banned
However, the pharmaceutical industry is still considering the impact of this ban. The list also includes some drugs which were already discontinued by many drug manufacturing companies. For example, the combination of antibiotic Azithromycin with Adapalene which is used to treat acne. Aceclofenac 50mg + Paracetamol 125mg Tablet has been banned in this list. It is one of the popular painkiller drugs made by big pharma companies. The list also includes Paracetamol + Pentazocine, which is used for pain relief. The list also includes the combination of “Levocetirizine + Phenylephrine”, combinations of magnesium chloride, paracetamol, tramadol, taurine and caffeine.
