Karnataka cancels 16 drug licences after fake medicine raid

Karnataka drug authorities have cancelled the licences of 16 pharmaceutical firms and suspended eight others, including the depot of global drugmaker Pfizer, following the discovery of an alleged counterfeit medicine racket operating from a farmhouse near Bidadi on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Health Minister U T Khader announced the action on Sunday, September 20, saying the measures targeted firms suspected of selling or supplying spurious products. The crackdown stems from a raid carried out on August 18 by the Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration's Drug Enforcement Wing at a farmhouse in Kurubarakeranahalli, Bidadi, in Bengaluru South district. Officials seized suspected counterfeit medicines, packaging material, an injection-filling machine and printing equipment, with the stock valued at around Rs 5 crore. Earlier estimates placed the inventory value at Rs 4.91 crore. The largest component of the haul was 5,640 vials of counterfeit Cefiavigent 2.5 injection, falsely branded under Eucratia Healthcare Pvt Ltd and valued at Rs 3.38 crore. The product was marketed as a cancer-related critical care medication.