In yet another initiative, the IPA companies have joined hands to tackle the menace of spurious drugs, leveraging experience and dedication of Mr. J F Ribeiro, former DGP-Punjab, and his associates.
The lax regulatory standards, inadequate enforcement and the Government apathy have allowed growth of spurious, counterfeit and fake drugs to alarming proportions. Some companies estimate the spurious drugs to account for one-sixth of total sales turnover of their popular brands.
The spurious drugs not only hurt the companies by the loss of sales but they also tar their image and reputation of their brands. The consumer gets cheated, as spurious drugs do not treat the ailment and consumer continues to suffer. In the case of the critical condition of the patient, it could even be life threatening. Besides the company and the consumer, the Government suffers revenue loss, as manufacturers of spurious drugs do not pay excise duty, sales tax and income tax. Likewise, the trade in spurious drugs being unaccounted, those dealing in the spurious drugs also do not pay the tax thereon