10 adverse-reaction drugs on government radar, may face ban

NEW DELHI - Ten popular drugs, including body slimmers and nasal decongestants, are under the health ministry scrutiny for their adverse reactions and may face withdrawal from the market in the near future.

We have put around 10 categories of drugs in our target and they are under focused scrutiny. We may withdraw some drugs from the market and on some we may put box warnings, Drug Controller General of India Surinder Singh told IANS.

These are major suspects and we have put them under focused monitoring. The health ministry is going to collect the pharmaco-vigilance data from across the country. And depending on the results we will initiate action, he said.

Singh said nasal decongestant like Poly Phenyl Propylamine is one such drug. It is causing brain stroke in diabetic and obese patients. This drug is also used in heavy doses as body slimmer. We are collecting all the data before the final action.

Gerti-floxacin, a popular antibiotic, has been noticed lowering blood sugar beyond the desired level. And this too is under the scrutiny.

Nemusilide, an effective pain killer causes liver toxicity among children. It has already been banned in some countries and we are studying whether we will ban it for use among children below the age of 12, Singh added.

Currently a national conference is going on at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to deliberate the issue and may suggest more names to be included in the list.

Patient safety is becoming the key focus of the health ministry and the government will set up pharmaco-vigilance centres in 40 medical colleges with help from AIIMS, said Y.K. Gupta, head of pharmacology department at AIIMS.

AIIMS will be the nodal authority in this field and the country’s main centre on this subject will run from here too.