No online sale of medicines till norms in place, says HC

Agencies

December 18, 2018

New Delhi, Dec 18: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said its stay on sale of drugs and prescription medicines by online pharmacies will continue till rules are framed to regulate such entities.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said that "once the rules come into play, you (online pharmacies) can start selling it (medicines). Problem is that today there are no rules regulating it".

The observations by the bench were made while hearing the applications moved by some online pharmacies seeking to be impleaded in the matter.

The pharmacies urged the court to remove the prohibition on online sale of drugs, saying they held licences and no medicines were sold illegally.

They also contended that even prescription drugs were sold only if there was a valid prescription from a doctor.

The applications for impleadment were filed in a PIL by Zaheer Ahmed seeking a ban on "illegal" sale of drugs and medicines online.

During the hearing, the petitioner informed the bench that the Madras High Court on Monday had banned online sale of medicines till the Union Health Ministry and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) notified the proposed Drugs and Cosmetics Amendment Rules, 2018 in the gazette at the earliest by January 31.

The Madras High Court, however, kept the operation of its order in abeyance till December 20, to enable the online pharmacies to challenge the decision.

On being informed of the development, the Delhi High Court listed the matter for hearing on December 20.

In his petition, Ahmed has said that the online illegal sale of medicines would lead to a drug epidemic, drug abuse and mis-utilisation of habit forming and addictive drugs.

It has claimed that the Ministry of Health, CDSCO and an expert committee appointed by the drug consultative committee have already concluded that the online sale of medicines was in contravention of the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the other allied laws.

Still lakhs of drugs are being sold on the Internet every day, it has said, adding that some of the drugs/ medicines contain narcotic and psychotropic substance and some can cause antibiotic resistant-bacteria which is a threat not only to the patient but to the humanity at large.

"It is a matter of public knowledge that e-commerce websites have been caught on numerous occasions of selling fake products. Unlike consumer items, drugs are extremely potent substances and consuming wrong dose or fake medicine can have fatal consequences on the patient," it said.

The petition said that as of now there is no mechanism to control the sale of medicines on the Internet and this puts health and lives of people at a high risk and affects their right to a safe and healthy life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

"Online pharmacies are operating without a drug licence and cannot be regulated in the present regime. Unregulated and unlicensed sale of medicines will increase risk of spurious, misbranded and sub-standard drugs being sold," the plea has said.

The plea has sought direction to the authorities to take action against the entities distributing, selling or exhibiting drugs on the internet.

It has also sought direction for constitution of an expert committee to find out the total number of websites which are distributing and selling the drugs in the country and to impose a ban on the online sale and purchase of medicines.

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COVID-19 scare: Guess what is the new substitute for chicken/mutton in India!

Agencies

March 11,2020

With the sales of chicken and mutton going down due to the coronavirus scare, it is the humble 'Kathal' (jackfruit) is emerging as an acceptable alternative.

'Kathal' is now selling at ₹120 per kilogram -- an increase of more than 120 per cent over the normal ₹50 per kilogram.

The jackfruit, in fact, is now priced higher than chicken which is selling at ₹80 per kilogram due to poor demand.

"It is better having a 'Kathal' biryani instead of a mutton biryani. It tastes reasonably good. The only problem is that 'Kathal' has been sold out in the vegetable market and is difficult to find," said Purnima Srivastava whose family savours non-vegetarian food on a regular basis.

The corona scare has hit poultry business so hard and the Poultry Farm Association recently organized a Chicken Mela in Gorakhpur to dispel the misconception that birds are carriers of the deadly virus.

"In fact, we gave away plateful of chicken dishes for Rs 30 to encourage people to savour the delicacies. We cooked one thousand kilograms of chicken for the Mela and the entire stock was sold out," said Vineet Singh, head of the Poultry Farm Association.

However, the Mela did not do much to dispel the fears about chicken, mutton or fish consumption amid the virus outbreak.

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Govt revises dosage of anti-viral drug remdesivir to be administered to coronavirus patients

Agencies

July 4,2020

The Union health ministry on Friday revised the dosage of anti-viral drug remdesivir to be administered to coronavirus patients in the moderate stage of illness from the earlier six days to five days as it issued an updated 'Clinical Management Protocols for COVID-19'.

The drug, administered in the form of injection, should be given at a dose of 200 mg on day one followed by 100 mg daily for four days (total five days), the new treatment protocols stated.

The Health Ministry on June 13 had allowed the use of remdesivir for restricted emergency use in moderate cases under "investigational therapies".

"Under emergency use authorisation, remdesivir may be considered for patients in moderate stage requiring oxygen support," the document stated.

It is not recommended for those with severe renal impairment and high level of liver enzymes, pregnant and lactating women, and those below 12 years, it said.

The ministry also okayed off-label application of tocilizumab, a drug that modifies the immune system or its functioning, and convalescent plasma for treating COVID-19 patients in the moderate stage of illness as "investigational therapies".

It also recommended hydroxychloroquine for patients during the early course of the disease and not for critically-ill patients.

On June 27, the ministry had included an inexpensive, widely used steroid dexamethasone in treatment protocols for COVID-19 patients in the moderate to severe stages of their illness among other therapeutic measures.

The ministry advised use of dexamethasone, which is already used in a wide range of conditions for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects, as an alternative choice to methylprednisolone for managing moderate to severe cases of coronavirus infection.

India's COVID-19 cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time taking the country's total tally to 6,25,544 on Friday while the death toll climbed to 18,213 with 379 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am.

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