Following a massive nationwide crackdown on spurious and substandard medicines, the licenses of 18 pharma companies have been cancelled and some firms have been directed to stop manufacturing on the account of poor-quality medicines. Earlier this month, the Centre inspected 76 pharma companies and 26 of them have been served a show-cause notice. The majority of the companies were operating out of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. A Health Ministry source said that there has been a cancellation of product permission of three companies. This was Phase-1 of the campaign wherein 203 pharma companies have been identified and action was taken on 76 companies. “A joint team of the Central and State government conducted the inspection and the special drive is aimed at stopping the production of adulterated drugs and ensuring good manufacturing norms compliance,” said the official. Meanwhile, India has reported some cases of substandard medicines, with Gujarat-based Zydus Lifesciences last month recalling from the U.S. market over 55,000 bottles of generic medication used to treat gout after it failed impurities specifications.