Raid on pharma Co reveals old pills being repacked for use

The raid started around 12 noon, where a team led by Anaicut tahsildar, aided by two drug inspectors, 2 food security officials and the Anaicut RI (revenue inspector) and local VAO broke into the premises of a locked pharma company.

The company was shut for two days, but the team noticed that stacked blister packs were ready for printing with the newly loaded tablets. They also gathered evidence of old, empty blister packs, and the pills put into plastic bags, ready to be repacked.

The team acted on a tip-off they got from employees of the company during a protest they were staging a few days ago.

The management of the pharma company located at Irayankadu, 20 km from Vellore sacked some employees who demanded a wage hike following which the workers staged a sit-in protest. 

When the media came to cover the stir, the supervisor blurted out to them that the company was repacking expired tablets for distribution to private doctors. He also alleged that officials had not only been bribed to look the other way, they had been given gold coins and cash for Pongal.

On hearing about this, Collector SA Raman ordered the raid and asked for a report the same day. Meanwhile Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan who was also informed of the happenings said that he had asked the State Drug Controller to initiate action.