Pfizer India says “focus remains on protecting patients, safeguarding public health and maintaining confidence in the healthcare system.” | Photo Credit: Dado Ruvic

Pfizer India has removed those products from the market whose batch details were copied by counterfeiters, the multinational drugmaker said, on recent investigations into spurious drugs by Karnataka’s drug regulatory authority.  

Earlier this week, the Karnataka Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) had reportedly cancelled the licences of 16 pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers, and suspended eight others, including that of a Pfizer depot. In fact, State Health Minister Health Minister UT Khader had been quoted in the media saying, they had “stopped Pfizer’s sale in the State because they did not cooperate with the investigation.”

Responding to a query from businessline, Pfizer said, “We have been working together with the authorities through the past one month when the matter of counterfeit medicines was brought to our attention. Since then, we have taken several actions to support the investigation, including removing, from the market, Pfizer batches (where batch numbers were copied by counterfeit) to avoid confusion, supporting to differentiate between original and counterfeit product, and providing technical and other relevant information related to the affected batches.” The company added, it was working with the authorities “to resolve the open queries”.

Investigations are underway on whether the spurious drugs crackdown in Karnataka had leads to any other state, a regulatory representative said. The State was already investigating a fake drugs racket where cancer and other critical medicines were allegedly sold to hospitals and clinics.  

Hospital representatives, who did not want to be named, explain that reputed institutions source medicines from registered companies with legit supply chains. While they advocate track and trace systems including barcodes, they caution, rouge elements can still infiltrate the system.

The Karnataka incident comes on the heels of regulatory raids in Gujarat and New Delhi, last month.

In August, an inter-s tate fake drugs network was busted after counterfeit blood pressure drug (Nicardia Retard) was seized in Gujarat by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and State Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). The fakes were reportedly flagged by JB Chemicals after products carrying its branding but not made by it were found in the market.

In a separate incident, the Drug Controller General of India flagged a fake rabies vaccine batch carrying the same branding and batch number as an Indian Immunologicals’ vaccine. A search at a Delhi residence by the Crime Branch and drug inspectors found “rabies vaccine (Abhayrab); Batch No. KE25012… misbranded (not manufactured by Indian Immunologicals Ltd)”, said a public notice from the regulator.

Published on September 23, 2026