Govt moves Supreme Court seeking ban on Crocin, D Cold Total, Corex, other combination drugs

New Delhi: The government has moved Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court order scrapping ban on popular drugs(fixed-dose-combination drugs)such as Corex, Saridon and Vicks Action 500, D Cold Total, Ascoril-C, and many more in December.

A fixed-dose-combination drug combines two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients. The Centre had banned 344 such drugs in March 2016 citing health risks after a government-appointed panel of experts found the combination drugs lacked "therapeutic justification", cause side effects and anti-microbial resistance.

The government is learnt to have told the Supreme Court that manufacturers of FDC drugs lack proper procedures regarding drug licensing and clearances.

Pharma companies, on the other hand alleged that Centre had banned the drugs in a haphazard manner without following the procedures prescribed in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Grug majors like  Pfizer, Glenmark, Procter and Gamble and Cipla and others filed as many as 454 petitions in various courts challenging the centre's ban, which was eventually turned over by Delhi High Court in December.