The State Drug Control Authority seized a huge cache of expired tablets from a godown in Vadapalani on Monday. The officials confiscated about 250 cardboard boxes of Respifed manufactured by Cipla. Each of the boxes contained 54 cartons of 200 tablets each.
Respifed contains triprolidine and pseudoephedrine. While triprolidine is used for nasal blocks the latter could be used in making amphetamine, a banned substance. Pseudoephidrine is banned in the Northeast States, where it has been used as a party drug.
The tablets were manufactured in October 2013 and expired in September 2015. The cache was found in a dingy hall on the second floor of a utensils shop next to Kamala theatre on the busy Arcot Road following a tip-off. The courier stickers on the carton revealed that the boxes were being transported from Puducherry to Mumbai.
Inside the long hall, a dozen employees removed the expired tablets from the strip and stored them in small circular plastic containers. According to Tamizh Viduthalai, the supervisor who oversaw the operation, the employees had been engaged for the past five days.
“We don’t know what they do with the drugs but we were told that tablets should all be removed from their original packing and put in the containers,” he said.
According to the drug inspectors, who seized the product, while expired drugs are usually removed from the packing to gather the aluminium foil as scrap, this was a serious case since a particular tablet alone was being unpacked.
Drug Controller Abdul Khader said “These are expired drugs but we are surprised that in such a busy area they have been carrying on such activities.”
In fact, the carton comes with a warning that consumption of the drug may cause drowsiness. It also advises that it should not be used with alcohol or sedatives.
According to the information on the carton, it should be sold on prescription of a registered medical practitioner. It comes with a caution – “It is dangerous to take this preparation except under medical supervision.”
Mr. Khader said, “We advise the stockists to return expired drugs to the company itself. But often in the case of generic drugs the companies do not take back the expired stocks. We are investigating to find the reason for doing what they did.”
The owner of the consignment did not turn up even after the drug authorities warned him. Officials said the seized tablets would be handed over to the court.
In the normal course, the tablets should be dissolved in water and the fluid disposed of as laid down in the rules, according to the Drug Control authorities.
The tablets were manufactured in October 2013 and expired in September 2015
