LAHORE: Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) has expressed its concerns over the government’s decision to bracket substandard drugs as spurious drugs, treating scientific error as a criminal act.
The association, in a statement, clarified that if any product is damaged during packaging or marketing it can be categorised as substandard, however, this does not mean that the drug is illegal or expired.
The PPMA representatives, while addressing media in Lahore, pointed out that globally spurious drugs are defined as those that are considered counterfeit and produced by unlicensed manufacturers. “Spurious drug do not contain active ingredients to cure a particular ailment, and should definitely be treated as criminal products.”
They said that treating the manufacturer of spurious and substandard drug as one in the same is a flaw. They added that they do not condone substandard drugs but are simply asking the government to separate this from the larger crime of manufacturing spurious drugs, they added.
