Health minister orders action against misleading pharma ads, sale of substandard drugs

Hyderabad: In a stern message to the pharmaceutical industry, Telangana Health Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha has ordered the Drug Control Authority (DCA) to take stringent action against companies and individuals involved in misleading medicine advertisements and the sale of substandard drugs.

The directive came during a review meeting held on Tuesday at the Indian Institute of Health and Wellness Centre in Vengal Rao Nagar.

DCA’s performance

DCA Director General Shanawaz Qasim presented a detailed report on the authority’s work progress for 2024 and 2025. The report highlighted a high volume of enforcement activities:

– In 2024, 25,939 inspections were conducted, leading to action against 4,142 organisations.

– From Jan-Jul 2025, 16,481 inspections were carried out, with action taken against 2,827 organisations.

The Minister was informed that between January 2024 and July 2025, 7,200 medicine samples were tested, of which 186 were found to be of substandard quality. This resulted in the registration of approximately 700 legal cases.

Zero tolerance for violations

Expressing deep concern, Minister Rajanarsimha emphasised that medicine is a matter of public life and that no leniency would be tolerated.

“The government will act strictly to provide quality medicine and quality food to the public,” he stated.

The Minister issued several key directives to the DCA:

Punishment for offenders: Ensure that culprits in all cases are prosecuted and punished.

Misleading advertisements: Target companies and individuals who use deceptive ads to sell medicines.

Permanent closure: Permanently close organisations that are repeat offenders.

PD Act: Consider registering cases under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act for those involved in the manufacture and sale of counterfeit and banned drugs.

Antibiotics and narcotics: Implement strict measures to prevent the sale of antibiotics without a prescription to combat antibiotic resistance, as well as the sale of narcotic-inducing medicines.

Infrastructure and manpower: Accelerate the upgrading of the drug testing lab and expedite the recruitment of more drug inspectors to strengthen the authority.

DCA asks for more staff

The Drug Control Authority has asked for extra manpower as they need to raid and test the sub-standard products in the laboratory for the legal cases.

A senior official explained, “The legal battles are long and it takes time to prove. Till then, we find that there are other spurious manufacturers in the state. People are often not aware, and it is the innocents who often fall prey to counterfeit and substandard medicines. This, in many cases, is also the reason for health complications in lifestyle diseases. There are also cases of death reported due to spurious drugs.”