How safe is the pill? Substandard drugs on a decline amid crackdown

The first of a two-part series focuses on how quality audits and regulatory actions on pharma units nationwide are showing results

The percentage of non-standard quality (NSQ) drugs in tested samples has been steadily declining, pointing to improvements in quality assurance. Simultaneously, efforts to crack down on spurious medicines are intensifying, with a rise in raids on illicit drug manufacturing units, alongside arrests for the production, sale, or distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs.

Data reveals that the share of NSQ drugs in tested samples has nearly halved -- dropping from around 5 per cent in 2014-15 to 2.8 per cent in 2021-22, according to an answer given in the Lok Sabha by Bharti Pravin Pawar, then minister of state for