Caution: These two fake medicines are being sold in the market, DCGI increased surveillance after WHO alert.

New Delhi (EMS). India has increased its strictness after the World Health Organization (WHO) alert regarding fake medicines for cancer and liver. WHO has stepped up surveillance on the movement and sale of cancer injection Adcetris and liver drug Defitelio due to drug safety warnings.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has directed drug controllers of all states and union territories to keep a close watch on the sale. Let us tell you, the World Health Organization told India that fake versions of injections in at least eight different batch numbers are in circulation in the country. After WHO i.e. World Health Organization found fake injections in four countries including India, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) issued an alert on September 5 and directed drug regulators across the country to take random samples. The national regulatory agency also asked doctors and health care professionals to ‘prescribe the drug with caution’ and educate their patients to report any adverse reactions to the drug. Regarding the same advisory, DCGI said that WHO has issued a safety alert with several counterfeit versions of Adcetris Injection 50 mg manufactured by Takeda Pharmaceuticals from four different countries including India.

Let us tell you, Adcetris Injection, manufactured by Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda Pharmaceuticals, is an important drug, which is used in combination with chemotherapy to treat adult patients with previously untreated stage 3 or 4 classical Hodgkin lymphoma. It is also given to children over two years of age with previously untreated high-risk classical Hodgkin lymphoma. DCGI, in a letter sent to state drug controllers, said that these medicines are easily available online.