Unknown Medication Side Effects Reported by 52% of Indian Families

An astonishing 52 percent of Indian households have experienced at least one family member encountering unanticipated side effects from medication. The report by online community platform LocalCircles, based on a survey of over 22,000 people from 341 districts, revealed that 18 percent families surveyed had one or more members who experienced unknown side effects of medicines thrice or more in the last 5 years. This comes as the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), advised patients and healthcare professionals to stop using Abbott’s Digene gel, a popular antacid, due to safety concerns. DCGI’s advisory against Digene gel was followed by a complaint alleging that one bottle of the antacid’s mint flavor is of regular taste (sweet) and light pink in color, whereas another bottle of the same batch was of white color with bitter taste and pungent odor.

Abbott Initiates Voluntary Recall of Digene Gel

The regulatory body said the impugned product manufactured at the Goa facility may be unsafe and its use may result in adverse reaction. In response drugmaker Abbott initiated a voluntary recall of the product. “Digene gel is generally preferred as a safe medication and has been in use for many years now. There is no need to panic as Abbott has only recalled the batches which were manufactured at the Goa unit due to some manufacturing defect in only those particular batches.“It is always advised and said that such medicines should only be taken under the expert guidance and when prescribed by your doctor and not before that,” Dr. Anukalp Prakash, Lead Consultant, Gastroenterology, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, told IANS.

“If the medicine is prescribed by the doctor, it is considered to be safe for consumption in prescribed dosage only. When people do not consult their doctors and buy medicines without their consultation and in safe quantities, they are known to be unsafe and can be harmful in many ways,” he added. Meanwhile, Abbott in a statement said, “Abbott in India has voluntarily recalled Digene gel antacid medicine manufactured at our Goa site, due to isolated customer complaints on taste and odor. There have been no reports of patient health concerns.""Other forms of Digene, such as tablets and stick packs are not impacted and Digene gel manufactured at our other production site is not affected and continues to be available in sufficient quantities to meet current demand," it said.

In the last 12 months, a series of drugs have been identified or recalled due to side effects.In July, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) flagged 51 batches of medicine for being “not of standard quality” including widely used medicines like Rosuvastatin manufactured by Sun Pharma Laboratories, drug combination Tamsulosin Hydrochloride and Dustasteride tablets manufactured by Cipla.

The probe by the UN organisation had found high levels of diethylene and ethylene glycol in the cough syrups that led to several deaths across the globe.In the same month, the government banned 14 fixed-dose combination (FDC) medicines, which contain two or more active ingredients in fixed dose ratio, as they were found to lack therapeutic justification by an expert panel.

Source-IANS