Nine Cancer medicines declared fake or substandard

The Drug Testing Laboratory in Karachi has declared nine medicines used in the treatment of cancer fake and substandard. The laboratory issued an alert after identifying the medicines as either counterfeit or substandard.

According to the Sindh Drug Testing Laboratory, tests found that some of the medicines did not contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient required to treat cancer, rendering them ineffective.

The Director of the Sindh Drug Testing Laboratory, Syed Adnan Rizvi, while speaking to the media, has said the products did not carry registration numbers issued by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), indicating that they were being supplied through the black market or smuggled into the country.

He said some of the cancer medicines lacked the essential active ingredient needed to stop the growth of cancer cells.

The medicines that did not contain the active ingredients or were found to be spurious are: cyclophosphamide 50 mg tablet and sorafenib 200 mg tablet, Arimidex 1mg tablet, Lenalidomide 10mg capsule, Leukeran 2mg tablet, lenvatinib 10 mg capsule, Nintedanib 150 mg soft gelatin capsules, Lenvaxen 4 Capsule 4mg, Gefimed 250mg.

Adnan Rizvi added that the laboratory had previously identified unregistered and substandard medicines circulating in the province.

He warned that the use of counterfeit or poor-quality cancer medicines could have serious consequences for patients.

Without the correct active ingredient, expensive and often physically demanding cancer treatment may become ineffective, increasing the risk that the disease could continue to progress unchecked.