HYDERABAD: Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) on Tuesday busted a spurious anti-cancer drug racket in the city and seized medicines worth Rs 4.3 crore at Macha Bollaram. Prime accused K Sateesh Reddy, director of Astrica Healthcare Private Ltd, is on the run from police and a manhunt has been launched to nab him.
The confiscated drugs were found to be spurious as the labels carried details of a non-existent company 'Astra Generics Private Ltd', the licence of which was cancelled in July 2021. However, the manufacturing date mentioned on the seized drugs showed March 2023 in the name of the fake company.
"Spurious drugs are a threat to public health. They not only fail to cure the disease but lead to disastrous consequences for the patients," warned a DCA official.
On detecting suspicious activity on Monday, DCA vigilance officials searched unlicensed premises and seized 36 varieties of anti-cancer drugs. The seized drugs bore the names of firms like Astra Generics, Astrica Healthcare, Bless Pharma India, Alliance Biotech, Sunvet Healthcare, Salus Pharmaceuticals and DM Pharma of Himachal Pradesh and Safe Parenterals of Andhra Pradesh, besides Medion Biotech Uttar Pradesh.
Prime accused K Sateesh Reddy is absconding. DCA officials said the detection of clandestine activity relating to spurious anti-cancer drugs was a significant breakthrough and marked the largest seizure in Telangana since its formation.
The officials sought postal department help in Alwal to trace one location mentioned on the invoices. DCA officials searched Astrica Healthcare courier offices at IDA Cherlapally, Nacharam and Medchal and premises of Astrica Healthcare at Keesara. The officials identified the courier boy delivering the stocks of Astrica Healthcare and traced the location of counterfeit/spurious drugs, which were stored in Macha Bollaram.
DCA assistant directors P Ramu and V Balanaganjan and drugs inspectors K Muralikrishna, B Praveen, G Srikanth, Ravikiran Reddy and AN Kranthi Kumar were part of the search teams.
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Read MoreSudhakar Reddy Udumula is the Editor (Investigation) at the Times of India, Hyderabad. Following the trail of migration and drought across the rustic landscape of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sudhakar reported extensively on government apathy, divisive politics, systemic gender discrimination, agrarian crisis and the will to survive great odds. His curiosity for peeking behind the curtain triumphed over the criminal agenda of many scamsters in the highest political and corporate circles, making way for breaking stories such as Panama Papers Scam, Telgi Stamp Paper Scam, and many others. His versatility in reporting extended to red corridors of left-wing extremism where the lives of security forces and the locals in Maoist-affected areas were key points of investigation. His knack for detail provided crucial evidence of involvement from overseas in terrorist bombings in Hyderabad.
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