Seven held for selling 2k fake antiviral medicines

NEW DELHI: A Bpharm graduate and a Bcom graduate, both from Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, were among seven arrested on Friday for running a factory producing fake remdesivir injections, which were widely sold in Delhi and other states for huge profits, Delhi Police’s crime branch said.

Vatan Kumar Saini,32, who holds Bpharm and MBA degrees, and Aditya Gautam, 33, a Bcom graduate, told the police that they have sold more than 2,000 fake remdesivir vials in the black market through their agents in the past few weeks. The police said a 40-year-old woman, who herself recently recovered from Covid-19, was helping them sell the fake vials in the city.

Remdesivir injections are in huge demand across India, as Covid-19 infections surge. The

World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence it reduces mortality or obviates the need for ventilation in hospitalised people, but it has been found by some studies to help those in early stages of the infection who need supplemental oxygen.

Delhi Police’s ongoing investigation into those arrested recently for trying to sell remdesivir injections in the black market helped them trace the vials to the manufacturing unit in Uttarakhand, the crime branch said.

The police said on Thursday they carried out searches in the manufacturing facility in Uttarakhand’s Kotdwar and a trading company in Haridwar, both run by Gautam and Saini. The two were allegedly passing off injections of antibiotic azithromycin as the antiviral drug remdesivir, as the packaging of both drugs are similar.

The men would replace the labels on the antibiotic vials with fake ones, said DCP (crime) Monika Bhardwaj.

DCP Bhardwaj said 198 vials of the fake remdesivir, one packing machine, one barcoding machine, 3,000 empty vials and packing materials of azithromycin were seized from the factory.

The DCP added that police have initiated the procedure to seal Gautam’s medicine manufacturing company, “Nectar Herbs and Drugs” in Kotdwar.