SC allows sale of painkiller Saridon, three other drugs

Popular painkiller Saridon will be available on medical stores across the country, with the Supreme Court on Monday allowing the sale of the drug and three other banned fixed dose combinations (FDCs).

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Indu Malhotra issued notice to the Centre and sought its reply on the plea filed by some drug makers and pharma associations. The medicines whose sale was allowed were Piramal Healthcare’s Saridon, GlaxoSmithKline’s Piriton, Juggat Pharma’s Dart and another drug, the details of which could not be immediately known.

The top court, however, did not grant any relief to the other medicines falling in the list of 328 FDC drugs which were banned by the Health Ministry by its September 7 notification. FDCs are two or more drugs combined in a fixed ratio into a single dosage form.

The Delhi HC had earlier allowed Indian pharma major Wockhardt to sell its Ace Proxyvon tablets, which is a mixture of three salts -- aceclofenac, paracetamol and rabeprazol -- a combination that is banned.

The pharma company, which claimed to have been manufacturing and selling the drug for over 11 years, had contended that it has not been provided with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) report, based on which the decision was taken. PTI

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