Seven batches of six well-known medicines have been declared fake in Sindh after government laboratory tests found the samples contained no active ingredients, raising serious questions about the pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and distribution channels involved. The findings have prompted calls for strict action, because patients taking these medicines would have received no treatment at all for their conditions.
According to reports, specific batches of Velosef, Augmentin, No-Spa Forte, Mucaine Suspension and Brufen were declared fake, while the popular constipation syrup Laxoberon also failed testing. Velosef 500mg batch number LX3A was found to contain no active ingredient, and Augmentin 526mg batch number YT9D was likewise declared fake. Batches of No-Spa Forte and Mucaine Suspension also failed to meet laboratory standards. A sample of Brufen batch number W6BC, used for joint pain, was declared fake as well, while Laxoberon syrup batches 46292 and 43445 were found to be fake, with the active ingredient sodium picosulfate absent.
The companies behind the medicines have distanced themselves from the questioned batches. Martin Dow Marker said it did not produce the Laxoberon batches in question, and the other relevant pharmaceutical companies also refused to acknowledge the specific batches as their own manufactured medicines, a response that only deepens the mystery of how the batches reached the market.
Action has now been recommended under the Drug Act 1976. The government testing laboratory has sent its reports to the Secretary of the Quality Control Board Sindh and to the Drug Inspector Karachi South for further action. The case is a stark reminder of how much trust patients place in every tablet and syrup they buy, and how dangerous it is when that trust is broken. What happens next, in terms of prosecutions and a crackdown on the supply chain, will matter far more than the lab reports themselves.
