Government has banned 328 FDC

The Government has banned 328 FDC

FDC ban effect
Source: AIOCD PharmaTrac

The Health Ministry has banned the manufacture, sale, and distribution of 328 Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) drugs with an immediate effect on September 12, 2018. The Indian pharmaceutical market size is estimated at around Rs 1.18-1.2 lakh crore, and FDCs reportedly make up approximately 50% of the sales. Here's what you need to know about them:

FDC means a combination of two or more drugs in a fixed dosage ratio. Some of the 328 banned FDC were: Cefixime + Azithromycin, Metronidazole + Norfloxacin, and Paracetamol + Propyphenazone + Caffeine (trade name Saridon), Ofloxacin + Ornidazole Suspension.

Why FDCs are so popular?

The simple answer to this question is cost. It is very cheap to buy Fixed dosage combination. Instead of buying two or more different medicines, a patient can buy only one FDC medicine to treat multiple disease symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies love them because it is far cheaper and quicker to combine existing active ingredients to manufacture new products than to discover new medicines and manufacture them separately.

Why has the government banned them?

The central government took this decision after the Drugs Technical Advisory Board recommended that "there is no therapeutic justification" for the ingredients contained in the banned 328 FDC drugs and that these medicines may involve risk to the patient.

Also, All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a network of NGOs that work to increase accessibility and improve the usage of essential medicines, said the people have been supplied with non-standard medicines for long.

 

 

 

How was Vibcare Pharma affected?

None of our products were affected by this ban on FDC. Do check our complete products list.

Here is a complete list of the banned drugs:

Reference : National Health Portal