The ministry clarified that these findings are based on a drug's failure to meet one or more specific quality parameters.
Health Ministry: 167 Drug Batches Fail Quality Tests in December CDSCO Report
The Union Health Ministry flagged 167 drug samples as “not of standard quality” (NSQ) following routine regulatory surveillance by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in December 2025.
According to a monthly drug alert report, central drug laboratories identified 74 of these substandard samples, while state laboratories identified 93.
The ministry clarified that these findings are based on a drug's failure to meet one or more specific quality parameters. However, the Health Ministry said that such failures are batch-specific and do not imply broader quality concerns for other drug products in the market.
Beyond substandard quality, the alert identified several "spurious" drugs manufactured by unauthorised entities using brand names owned by other companies. These included four samples from the North Zone (Ghaziabad) and one each from FDA Ahmedabad, Bihar, and Maharashtra.
The ministry stated that these cases are currently under investigation.
This surveillance is part of a regular collaboration between central and state regulators to identify and remove unsafe medicines from the market.
Source: The Tribune
