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India said on Thursday it is lodging a strong protest with China against fake anti-malarial 'Made-in-India' drugs detained by this Nigerian authorities, which maligns the Indian pharmaceutical industry for consignments that originated from the neighbouring country.
'Taking serious note of the action by unscrupulous elements to malign the Indian generic pharma industry, the embassy of India, Beijing, has been requested to lodge a strong protest with concerned Chinese authorities and also to impress upon them to take stringent action against such unscrupulous elements,' a commerce ministry statement said in New Delhi.
It said the government's drug regulatory authority (NAFDAC) has reported the detention of a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals labelled 'Made in India' but produced in China.
'After a laboratory analysis by NAFDAC, the drugs have been found to be fake and, had they not been intercepted, about 642,000 adults would have been affected,' it said.
According to the Indian High Commissioner in Nigeria, the consignment containing Maloxine and Amalar tablets, used for the treatment of malaria, was valued at Naira 32.1 million and was produced, packed and shipped from China.
The department of commerce has already conveyed its 'serious concern' to China's ambassador to India Zhang Yan in New Delhi 'with the request that strict action be taken against the involved parties.'
Zhang was informed that exporting fake drugs from China under the 'Made-in-India' label would be seen to be giving credence to the allegations that generic medicines are often counterfeited.
'India expects China to take strong measures in this aspect. India would intensify its efforts to strengthen its position on generic medicines in Africa,' the commerce ministry statement said.
India's $ 12 billion pharma industry gets 40 per cent of its revenue from exports of generic drugs across the world and they compete with large multi-national firms in the overseas markets.
India has argued in the WTO and bilateral meetings with the European nations that its pharmaceutical firms are not violating any global agreements and laws.