The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has published three lists of products declared as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) and Spurious for February 2025. All these three lists were published on March 29, 2025.
These lists are as follows:
- Dugs analyzed by CDSCO/ central laboratories,
- Drugs that have been analyzed by state laboratories, and
- Drugs, Medical Devices, Vaccine and Cosmetics declared as Spurious/Adulterated/Misbranded
Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) drugs refer to drugs that fail to meet quality standards or specifications. The term ‘standards of quality’ is defined in the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, to mean that the drug complies with the standards set out in the Second Schedule of the said Act.
Central Laboratories NSQ List of drugs/ products for February– 2025
The NSQ drug list for central CDSCO laboratories specifies a total of 47 drugs that were detected to be deficient.
Out of the 41 NSQ drugs from CDSCO/Central Laboratories, 27 were reported by Central Drug Laboratory (CDL), Kolkata; 1 was reported by Regional Drugs Testing Laboratory (RDTL), Chandigarh; 10 were reported by RDTL, Guwahati; 6 were reported by Central Drugs Testing Laboratory (CDTL), Mumbai; 2 were reported by CDTL, Indore and 1 was reported by CDTL, Hyderabad.
State Laboratories NSQ List of drugs/ products for February – 2025
The NSQ drug list specifies a total of 56 drugs that were detected to be deficient by the state laboratories.
Out of these 56 drugs, 11 were reported by State Lab, Drugs Control Laboratory, Telangana; 13 by State lab (Puducherry); 4 by State Drugs Testing Laboratory, Agartala, Tripura; 2 by Drug Testing Laboratory Srinagar (J&K); 4 by Modern Drug Testing Laboratory Kathua (J&K); 1 by State Drugs Testing Laboratory, Kolkata, West Bengal and 21 were reported by Drugs Testing Laboratory Thiruvananthapuram.
It is pertinent to note that CDSCO did not receive NSQ data as per Format & in EXCEL SHEET State Drugs Licensing Authorities of Puducherry, Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura, Telangana, Jammu Kashmir and Goa (PDF Format), Ladakh (PDF Format), Jharkhand (PDF Format), Himachal Pradesh (PDF Format), Assam(PDF Format), Karnataka (PDF Format), Rajasthan (PDF Format)for the month of February, 2025.
However, the State Drugs Licensing Authorities of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep have not submitted any data in respect of the Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Alert for the month of February, 2025
Drugs, Medical Devices, Vaccine and Cosmetics declared as Spurious for February – 2025
The term “Spurious Drug” has been defined under Section 17-B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. A drug shall be deemed to be spurious;
- If it is manufactured under a name which belongs to another drug; or
- If it is an imitation of, or is a substitute for, another drug or resembles another drug in a manner likely to deceive or bears upon it or upon its label or container the name of another drug unless it is plainly and conspicuously marked so as to reveal its true character and its lack of identity with such other drug; or
- If the label or container bears the name of an individual or company purporting to be the manufacturer of the drug, which individual or company is fictitious or does not exist; or
- If it has been substituted wholly or in part by another drug or substance; or
- If it purports to be the product of a manufacturer of whom it is not truly a product.
This list specifies only 1 drugs as spurious, i.e Telma H (Telmisartan 40mg & Hydrochlorothiazide 12.5mg).
The actual manufacturer (as per label claim) has informed that the impugned batch of the product has not been manufactured by them and that it is a spurious drug. This drug is subject to ongoing investigation.
