Banned Drugs In India

[deepu 0]

Dear All,

Pls Read Very Carefully

India has become a dumping ground for banned drugs; also the business for

production of banned drugs is blooming. Plz make sure that u buy drugs only

if prescribed by a doctor(Also, ask which company manufactures it, this

would help to ensure that u get what is prescribed at the Drug Store) and

that also from a reputed drug store. Not many people know about these

banned drugs and consume them causing a lot of damage to themselves.

DANGEROUS DRUGS THESE DRUGS HAVE BEEN GLOBALLY DISCARDED BUT ARE AVAILABLE

IN INDIA. The most common ones are D cold, action 500 & Nimulid.

ANALGIN:

This is a pain-killer. Reason for ban: Bone marrow depression.

Brand name: Novalgin

__________________________________________________________

CISAPRIDE:

Acidity, constipation. Reason for ban : irregular heartbeat

Brand name : Ciza, Syspride

____________________________________________________________

DROPERIDOL:

Anti-depressant. Reason for ban : Irregular heartbeat.

Brand name :Droperol

______________________________________________________________

FURAZOLIDONE:

Antidiarrhoeal. Reason for ban : Cancer.

Brand name : Furoxone, Lomofen

_____________________________________________________________

NIMESULIDE:

Painkiller, fever. Reason for ban : Liver failure.

Brand name : Nise, Nimulid

________________________________________________________________________

NITROFURAZONE:

Antibacterial cream. Reason for ban : Cancer.

Brand name : Furacin

________________________________________________________________________

PHENOLPHTHALEIN:

Laxative. Reason for ban : Cancer.

Brand name : Agarol

________________________________________________________________________

PHENYLPROPANOLAMINE:

cold and cough. Reason for ban : stroke.

Brand name : D'cold, Vicks Action-500

________________________________________________________________________

OXYPHENBUTAZONE:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Reason for ban : Bone marrow depression.

Brand name : Sioril

________________________________________________________________________

PIPERAZINE:

Anti-worms. Reason for ban : Nerve damage.

Brand name : Piperazine

________________________________________________________________________

QUINIODOCHLOR:

Anti-diarrhoeal. Reason for ban : Damage to sight.

Brand name :Enteroquinol

Edited December 15, 2004 by deepu

[polu 0]

Well being a medical student i must dispel ur doubts.

not all the drugs which mr deepu has mentioned are harmful.

the side affects are there but in clinical trials it have been seen that there is slight increase in the above mentioned affects, the proportion is too less to be a grave danger to general population. for ex nimesulide is a very good pain killer and is given wout any untoward affects. only cauiton observed is tat it must not be given to childrens.

so guys dont be panicky, we have a very good medical infrasturcture in place and medical council of india takes good care of these drugs.

[deepu 0]

Thanks Polu for the quick reply... I got this email forwarded to me and posted here....

Can you just post which among the above are really harmfull so that we can be carefull.

Its said that Vicks Action 500 and D'Cold are harmfull.. Now these are commonly used by every one without Doctor's prescription. Are they really harmfull... Pls clarify

[tanveer 59]

oxyphenbutazone is hardly used even in India, similarly cisapride has been withdrawn. The lates to be withdrawn is valdecoxib. so all these are only for media hype. not much matter in these reports

similarly analgin has been withdrawn many years ago and nobody uses piperazine these days

Edited December 15, 2004 by tanveer

[polu 0]

well i could not understand ki from whether are u hearing these rumours ki vicks and d cold are harmful. but all drugs should be used with caution and after proper medical advice.

yaar hamari biradri ke logon ko consult kar lo.no harm in doing tat.khud ka doc mat bana karo.

[Chirag 5]

Irony is that we try to take care of our health only when we fall sick. Its time to get "well" much b4 in advance such that we can delay some obvious sicknesses!

[rEdshiFt 1]

my, my this is one topic i never thot wold figure in our forums...nice find deepu...and its a pandoras box.

and right of the bat lemme tell u- thers SO MUCH MORE to this than meets the eye...

these 'banned' drugs are not the low_quality_fake drugs (which is a HUGE problem by itself)....the drugs in the list are genuinly banned...IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES.

The fake drugs are a serious, but different issue...the advice "Plz make sure that u buy drugs only if prescribed by a doctor(Also, ask which company manufactures it, this would help to ensure that u get what is prescribed at the Drug Store) and

that also from a reputed drug store. " - this protects u from possible fake drugs...

polu, good to c medicos around and straight to the rescue of good old allopathy aka modern medicine...well, i guess that how i would have reacted too- 7,8 yrs ago when i was doin my UG... but trust me, theres a lotta murk in the field...and its ugly.

High-pressure marketing/advertising is at the core of the multi-billion $ pharmaceutical industry...dumping all the drugs that got banned in west into the indian market...exactly like deepu had said...

so all these are only for media hype.

22006[/snapback]

and PPL, let me get this straight - THERE REALLY IS AN OFFICIAL LIST OF BANNED DRUGS/ DRUG COMBINATIONS....its published by the world health organization....every damn year.

and deepu could not have been more correct when he said "Not many people know about these banned drugs"...HECK NOT MANY DOCTORS KNOW OF THE LIST !...im serious here. i remember efforts from social activists like the 'MedicoFriendsCircle' to actually educate doctors about the list of banned drugs !!!

think about it....the commonest source of info for a Dr about any new drug is thro the medical representatives...and...and, i mean they WORK for the company man, its his JOB to sell the product... beyond that if u want objective data, u gotta go for the journal articles....even here, remember most drug trials are SPONSERED by the drug company whos drug is being tested....more vested interests.

the side affects are there but in clinical trials it have been seen that  there is slight increase in the above mentioned affects, the proportion is too less to be a grave danger to general population.

im glad u ARE familiar with RCTs and clinical trials...keep it up...but also, try to read in-between the lines.

Think about this one - "the proportion is too less to be a grave danger to general population" - then WHY THE HECK ARE THEY BANNED IN THE WEST ?? keep contemplating on this. seems our safety standards are much less stringent than FDA's...

for ex nimesulide.... only cauiton observed is tat it must not be given to childrens.

where did u hear THAT ??? recheck ur IDR/CIMS buddy....sure nimesulide has peadiatric syrups/suspensions...5mg/kg/day....i think. BUT THEN AGAIN, NIMESULIDE IS A "BANNED" DRUG ...!!! whadefuk

so guys dont be panicky, we have a very good medical infrasturcture in place and medical council of india takes good care of these drugs.

21975[/snapback]

what can i say dude...i dont wanna damage the "Doctor image" anymore...today. ...but dont u worry its not OUR fault, personally - its the whole goddamn system....and the pharma giants are playin puppets....im gettin increasingly sick of this s hit everyday.

have u guys heard of "the essential drugs list" ? its compiled by W.H.O and u know what the msg is ? we need ONLY about 250 'essential drugs' to manage 98% of all our patients in a genaral practice setting.... ON THE OTHER HAND, do u know how many drugs/combinations are actually available in the market ?....80,000+ !!! yes...not 1000 or 2000, we have 80,000+ drugs flooding our markets....

HIGH POWER MARKETING...THATS ALL I CAN SAY....

i think i'll jus repeat deepus words...

DANGEROUS DRUGS THESE DRUGS HAVE BEEN GLOBALLY DISCARDED BUT ARE AVAILABLE IN INDIA.

Edited March 16, 2005 by rEdshiFt

[Chirag 5]

Interesting Insight @ redshift!

So wht shud a "lay man" do? is there any way for them to find out whts right n whts wrong?

[rEdshiFt 1]

hmmm....thats actually a tough question dude ...Ignorance IS bliss - in more than one way...like, i would have answered SOMETHING to that, in a jiffy, if i was 5,6 yrs ago...NOW, i gotta think for a while for a sincere answer...!

ok...basics first - forget the drug, think about the doctor first....there STILL are a few 'good' doctors around...drs who know what a drug CANNOT do...and in nother sense- drs who know what THEY can do without a drug. basically, these r ppl who look at their patients as ppl_to_be_healed and NOT as diseases_to_be_treated.

it mite take a while, but find one of these 'good' guys..AND STICK TO HIM.

Not all, but most Drs seem to come to this kinda maturity only around their 40s....That could be a pointer to findin 'ur dr'..but remember i said "not all, but mostly" - coz some young drs are quite 'mature' and some drs NEVER reach or CONCEIVE of such maturity !

"Health-care" is officially an "industry" now and hospitals/clinics have become the dealers/retail_outlets of this industry....and what marketing !!!...when i think of it,im actually glad im not at the receivin end of this whole sticky stick

another PRACTICAL tip : never go for over_the_counter drugs from medical shops...i know its so much easier...but we ALWAYS end up taking inadequate dosages for an inadequate time period...this only makes thigs worse...in the long run...

_________________________________________________________________

i TOTALLY TOTALLY AGREE WITH UR PREVIOUS POST

Irony is that we try to take care of our health only when we fall sick. Its time to get "well" much b4 in advance such that we can delay some obvious sicknesses!

Im only too aware of this mate....my speciality field is a branch called "preventive and social medicine" ..,and people never listen to us !! . yes, it is SO SO true, people never listen to stuff about 'takin care' until they r actually sick. only when we're down with some illness, do we really 'listen'....

not a healthy trend....

but its not jus in the patients psychie, its in the whole doctor community psychie too....ONLY when someone is sick, does the doctor has anything meaningful to say/do...we are all supposed to be "health-proffessionals" but sadly we're all turning into "sickness professionals" or "disease-professionals"...this last bit - i 'borrowed' from a guy called Abraham Maslow...deep.

[tanveer 59]

most of these drugs are used in Western countries and then come to India, I cant recollect many drugs that were invented/discovered/synthesized in India ( except probably indigenous drugs and saheli the contraceptive) they are declared the best and better than ever before at their launch by the FDA (drugs like valdecoxib). Then these drugs come to India and are used and tried here. Then people in US come up with further results and say well.., the results are not as wonderful as we first thought but the drug is pretty good, then they study it further and decide it has some very serious side effects and it shouldl be banned. India as in other things lags behind by 4-5 years in every step and so the banning of drugs is late as well.

Cisapride when launched was the answer to all upper abdominal discomforts ( in the US) and then it was found to have serious interactions and side effects. Was it not tested in RCT s and clinical trials in the US? or was the FDA blind?

Thalidomide was used so frequently used earlier and then there was phocomelia and the world changed. So you see it is business everywhere untill a disaster strikes.

and red shift, the media hype i was talking about was that the long list that was given in the article was a hype. Do you know when was the last time analgin was used in india? Have u ever seen oxyphenbutazone tablet? did ur pediatrician ever prescribe piperazine for deworming your nephew? furazolidone and quinodochlor are hardly used now ( dont know if they are banned or not)

[Chirag 5]

Now this is becoming an interesting discussion. Something tht is with all of us!

Im only too aware of this mate....my speciality field is a branch called "preventive and social medicine" ..,and people never listen to us !!  . yes, it is SO SO true, people never listen to stuff about 'takin care' until they r actually sick. only when we're down with some illness, do we really 'listen'....

I wasn't open to this either earlier. It was only after i read something that completely changed my perspective of looking at Health - Good Health - Optimal Health!

I cant recollect the name of the book that i read. I'll get it for u'll. Its something that any1 could understand from. It does get a lil technical with medical terms in it. But what it was all abt is that its vital for us to not look at health only when we get sick. When we fall sick and go to the doctor, we are talking abt the Sickness Industry! And when we try n reach Optimal Health which will prevent us to go sick, gives rise to the new emerging Wellness Industry! Pretty interesting stuff! I'll get the name of the book soon. What say redshift!

Wht exactly covers preventive and "social" medicine?

[rEdshiFt 1]

everything agreed tanveer,...we're NOT saying different things...

xcept this one....i bought analgin yday - its sittin right in front of me !!

btw, jus curious - u a doc or a rep ?

[tanveer 59]

doc. where are u from?

[rEdshiFt 1]

cool, dude....lemme know the name of the book

the "social" part means work doesnt involve ONE patient in a clinic...but involve the whole socity or community....

like say, the pulse_polio and other vaccination campaigns, most of the govt programs for the free treatment of TB/Malaria/filaria/leprosy cases and stuff like that....

"management " of malaria for drs in my field doesnt stop with TREATING malaria, but extends to the dealing with the actual cause- the mosquito - and attempts to solve the problem at the root level.....BUT THINGS ARE TOUGH TO CHANGE.... so u mite c me sprayin anti_mosquito_fog r somethin like that, one of these days

[rEdshiFt 1]

HI DOC ...COIMBATORE,TN....You?

edited : oh..ok..delhi..cool

[tanveer 59]

thats why i guess WHO changed the definition of health from absence of disease to a state of complete physical, social mental and emotional well being thus incorporating a greater role of preventive medicine. redshift can elaborate on that. though i think we will drift from the point of discussion

[polu 0]

Its good to see the topic taking a intresting proposition

but let me clarify few things first.

1. nimusilede is a banned drug and still it is avialable. it is given to adults and not given to child because of untoward effects

2. personally i agree with Dr. redshift but consider few facts

a) it takes 6 year to complete MBBS.(tat to if u r lucky enough) 1year u have to prepare for Pre medical test to get through as they say it its the toughest competition around. out of 3 lakh only lucky 2000 get through.

after tat u have to do Pg for 3 years. again prepare fo pre pg exam for 1 year at least. and if u still have energy left go for super specialization

c) so it adds upto 1+6+1+3+2=13 yrs

d) so now wat do u expect from a doctor to serve himself first or community.

e) for everything ie form ur investigation to ur treatment the doctor get cuts that is percantage of commision

f) there comes the moral part. this is wrong but everybody is in it

g) now the trick here is to outsmart the doctor by

1. be informed about the disease. grill the doctor as much as u can about it. be very sure wat he is doing and how it will affect u.

2. always consult a reputed doctor, it helps.

3.always emphasize on prevention ex malaria can be prevented by using nets, regular spraying of sprays, avioding collection of water.

4.always get all the investigation done from a reputed diagnostic labrotary

5. ask doctor before hand about all the drugs avialable alternative treament possible.

6. last but not the least pay FEEs to doc as he has given damn all his life reading the books.

always remember the golden rule PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

[tanveer 59]

I differ on that just because a doctor works harder deos not mean that he can get away with anything. I however though am strictly against doctors being brought under the jurisdiction of consumer courts. Now that makes the "patients" "consumers" , so what do you expect the doctors to be? That obviously will dampen the spirit of the relationship that was earlier there between a patient and a doctor!

[Chirag 5]

thats why i guess WHO changed the definition of health from absence of disease to a state of complete physical, social mental and emotional well being thus incorporating a greater role of preventive medicine.

22158[/snapback]

I guess there are 5 things that WHO talks abt "Optimal Health". It says, "a state of complete physical, mental, financial, emotional & spiritual well-being of a person"

Is that right?

[rEdshiFt 1]

yes tanveer....this whole business of bringing_doctors_under_the_consumer_act has very uncomfortable ramifications/implications....it does more than 'dampen'...it destoys the 'trust' part that is so essential in the doc-ptnt relationship....i hate this 'business'(pun intended:))

since there is a HUGE flip-side of the coin,i dont know which is wrong and which is right, but i know this for sure - i CANNOT treat my pts with the fear/thought of gettin sewed lurkin in the back of my mind.

[rEdshiFt 1]

.yeah....right, those r the 'dimensions' of "health"...

praticaly speakin, this WHO's "definition" of health mite be considered irrelevent to everyday demands, as NOBODY qualifies as healthy,i.e. "perfect biological,psycological and social functioning". That is, if accept the WHO definition, we are all sick. smile.gif

but surely science needs SOME kinda definition to start with.

its better to remember- definitions of health are just that -definitions,nothin more. and this WHO one is pretty idealistic...like its not a...say...a operational definition....meaning, it doesnt lend to "measurement" of health.

actualy, DEFINING "health" is so very elusive...its one of those things...u know, like happiness-everyone knows what/how it is BUT if v start "defining", we get to shaky grounds....lots of subjectiveness involved....and that makes "defining", and more importantly, "measuring" health FAR from simple.

and of course, science has this obssesive habit of 'measurining' things.

If u can make the link, this is precisly why all our 'measurements' of health have been framed interms of

~ ill-health --- (or lack of health)

~ the consequenses of ill-health --- (eg,morbidity, disability)

~ economic/occup/domestic factors that promote ill-health

-all the ant-thesis of "health" !!! those are the best/possible ways we have to "measure" health. Not that this is bad or something...im jus stating a fact here.

phew....thats was long....and exactly like tanveer had said, it has veeeered off ....

and thanks to this one J.E.Park guy...let him R.I.P

[rEdshiFt 1]

hi...

check out this link for a great list of publications on drug safety...

The Uppsala Monitoring Center

dont miss the 'viewpoint'...provides an excellent groundwork_knowledge on the issue....for everyone. Its a must_read.

user posted image

"pharmacovigilance" ...thats a recent terminology

btw, the list of drugs banned in India can be seen at the CDSCO homepage

...the names are in generic, not the brands (paracetamol NOT dolapar)

=========

edit: no no, paracetamol is NOT banned - i jus meant it to say that the real generic names of drugs are different than the brand names...and paracetamol happens to be one of the few generic names everyone knows.