Dear Shiv, Two quick points:
1: Is it really "business of medicine, Goa style" OR "business of medicine, India style"? 2: Thank Goodness for the "Librashun"......Would you not agree? jc suggested references: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091006700.html http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-why-substandard-and-fake-drugs-are-rampant-in-india/20130614.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/world/asia/medicines-made-in-india-set-off-safety-worries.html?_r=0 http://sirulu.com/assocham-says-fake-drugs-india-may-cross-us-10-billion-next-three-years/ > On Aug 31, 2014, at 9:28 PM, Shiv Kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > > From another mailing list that deals with specific stocks: > > Last week, I was in Goa for my business. I met a few of people from > the audit departments of a few pharma companies whose plants are in > Goa. > > After building a good rapport, one auditor confided with me that their > people routinely fake test data for audit, even now after Ranbaxy and > Wockhardt scare. > > Another audit guy who works for an MNC pharma said that their plant > makes formulations for their global operations. in that, they give > ingredients exactly as specified. However, they sell the same API (raw > material) to Indian companies for Indian distribution (the MNC does > not sell in India under its brands). There, they give lower quality > ingredients, though they specify higher grade. So if the API is meant > to be 60% active ingredient, it is usually 45-50% active ingredient > and it is sold at cheaper prices to Indian pharma companies. Indian > companies prepare tablets and sell, even though they know that the > ingredient is of less than specified potency. Everybody in the > industry apparently knows this open secret in Goa. > > A PRO of a well-known hospital in Goa told me there are some small > time pharma companies who bring a couple of containers of their drugs > into Goa and sell those tablets at very cheap rates to local doctors / > pharmacies with strange, unknown brands. They throw parties for the > doctors requesting them to write prescriptions for their brands. Once > the containers are finished, they disappear. The brand or the company > never comes again to the doctors. > > Finally, another trend in Goa medical practice: Some generic pharma > companies approach big specialist doctors and offer to prepare tablets > in the doctor's name!! They offer to make customised formulation with > the doctor's branding. So you hear some funny brands that you never > hear anywhere else. Only the other local doctors can tell that this > brand is such and such doctor's brand of tablets. I took photos of > some tablet strips. They were definitely not tested for anything. I > know a lot about pharma industry, being involved with it for 21 years. > One look at the contents and I could tell that all these ingredients > cannot be put in one tablet - sort of a polypill with 38 ingredients. > > Some Goa doctors told me that these days, they trust medicines only if > they are imported!!!!
