Punjab Outlook

Chandigarh: Eleven medicines manufactured in Punjab are among the 112 “sub-standard” medicines banned by the Punjab government following a report from the Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation (CDSCO), where the drug regulator declared these drugs to be of poor quality. Fifty of the medicines that have been banned were manufactured in Himachal Pradesh. “The Punjab govt has imposed a strict ban on the sale of substandard medicines. Following a report from the CDSCO declaring these drugs to be of poor quality, the health department has ordered their immediate removal from the market. Citizens are advised to avoid using any of the listed medicines,” Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh said in a post on X on Friday evening, while releasing the list of medicines flagged by CDSCO, that have been banned by the state government. The list mentioned the names of the medicines, their batch, manufacturing and expiry date, details of the
manufacturer, reporting source (whether CDSCO or state lab), and name of the reporting lab. It also mentioned their “not of standard quality (NSQ)” result and reporting month, which was Sept 2025.
As per NSQ results, two medicines were “spurious”, and at least eight medicines were “misbranded.” Among the medicines in the list are those of the same salt manufactured by the same manufacturer but having different batch numbers, and also medicines of the same salt manufactured by different manufacturers.Among the medicines in the list of “substandard” drugs are Paracetamol Tablets IP 500 mg, Diclofenac Sodium &Paracetamol Tablets IP, Albendazole Tablets IP, Amoxycillin & Potassium Clavulanate Tablet IP, Telmisartan,Tablets IP 40 mg, Cetrizine Hydrochloride Tablets IP, Aceclofenac & Paracetamol Tablets, Pantoprazole, Aspirin,Tablet, and Zinc Sulphate Oral Solution.