CDSCO flags 94 drug samples as 'not of standard quality' in August

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Friday declared 94 drug samples tested by the Central and state drugs regulatory authorities as ‘Not of Standard Quality (NSQ)' in its monthly drug alert for August.

For the month of August, the Central Drugs Laboratories identified 32 drug samples to be NSQ, while the State Drugs Testing Laboratories identified 62 drug samples as NSQ.

As per routine regulatory surveillance activity, the list of Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) and spurious drugs is being displayed on the CDSCO portal on a monthly basis.

“For the month of August 2025, Central Drugs Laboratories have identified 32 drug samples to be Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) and State Drugs Testing Laboratories have identified 62 drug samples as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ),” the alert said.

The identification of drug samples as NSQ is done based on failure of the drug sample in one or the other specified quality parameters.

The failure is specific to the drug products of the batch tested by the government lab, and it does not warrant any concerns on the other drug products available in the market, as per health officials.

Further, in August, “three drug samples from the state of Bihar were identified as spurious drugs, which were manufactured by unauthorised manufacturer using brand name owned by other company. The matter is under investigation and action will be taken as per the Act & Rules,” they added.

This action of identifying NSQ and spurious medicines is taken regularly in collaboration with state regulators to ensure that these drugs are identified and removed from the market.

The CDSCO declared 143 drug samples tested by the Central and state drugs regulatory authorities in the month of July as NSQ.

In July, the Central drug labs found 46 drug samples as NSQ, while the state drug testing labs identified 97 drug samples as NSQ.

--IANS

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