DRAP launches crackdown against counterfeit drugs in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on Wednesday decided to initiate a crackdown on fake medicines – manufactured by illegal pharma companies – which are presumably available in medical stores in Karachi, ARY News reported.

In a major operation on December 12, 2023, the DRAP team conducted a raid on an illegal pharmaceutical factory in Karachi and confiscated a huge quantity of counterfeit drugs.

The central drug test laboratory declared the exported medicines as fake, along with the packaging, registration, and manufacturing date.

The medicine regulatory team revealed that the workers in the factory were putting packaging of different companies over counterfeit antibiotic medicines, which are now feared to be available in the local market.

READ: DRAP to launch ‘crackdown’ against spurious medicines

Meanwhile, the details related to the counterfeit medicine have already been dispatched to the relevant provincial office of DRAP in Sindh.

The DRAP officials revealed that counterfeit medicines are ineffective during the treatment and can increase the rate of mortality.

The drug regulatory authority also urged the medicine distributors not to supply fake antibiotic batches in the local market for consumption by patients in the province and directed the relevant teams to seize the counterfeit drugs from the market.