Pakistan’s drug regulator has issued a fresh public warning after a series of medicines were flagged as spurious, substandard, or misbranded, with some batches found to contain no active ingredient at all. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, acting on reports tied to Punjab’s Drug Testing Laboratory, said consumers should avoid the affected products, while pharmacies and distributors have been told to pull them from shelves and quarantine remaining stock.
Among the products named in the official alerts was D-Gest (Dydrogesterone 10 mg), batch DGH007. DRAP said lab analysis found 0.0 mg per tablet against the labeled 10 mg claim, meaning the declared active ingredient was completely absent. That matters a lot because dydrogesterone is used in progesterone-deficiency conditions, including threatened miscarriage and luteal phase support. DRAP assessed the public-health risk as high, especially for pregnant women and other hormone-dependent patients.
Another case involved Gabica 300 mg, batch 518C27, a pregabalin capsule purportedly linked to Getz Pharma. According to DRAP, the manufacturer disowned the recovered sample and said it had neither manufactured nor sold it, after comparing it with its own retention sample. In plain terms, the regulator treated it as counterfeit.
The alerts also named Venofer 5 mL, batch 4721026AA, described by DRAP as spurious, misbranded and substandard. The product was purportedly manufactured by Takeda Austria and imported by Searle Pakistan, but the authorized importer said the recovered sample was counterfeit after physical comparison with its own retained batch. DRAP said lab testing showed failure of assay for iron and sucrose contents.
Then there is Rhophylac 300 µg, batch P100707423, which raises even more serious concern. DRAP said the product was purportedly manufactured by CSL Behring AG and imported or distributed by Hakimsons, but the importer confirmed the batch did not belong to it and was not legally imported. The sample also failed sterility testing, with the regulator warning that such contamination could lead to bloodstream infections and dangerous complications, particularly for pregnant women and immunocompromised patients.
A separate March 11 alert covered a cefixime 400 mg capsule, batch LLM034, marketed as Caricef. DRAP said testing showed absence of cefixime, again pointing to complete therapeutic failure. The regulator also said packaging differences, including printing and hologram features, showed it was not an authentic product. That kind of failure is especially troubling with antibiotics because ineffective treatment can allow illness to worsen and may contribute to antimicrobial resistance.
The regulator’s message to the public is pretty direct: do not use these products, buy medicines only from licensed pharmacies or authorized outlets, and contact a doctor or pharmacist if there is any doubt about a product’s authenticity. DRAP has also directed its field force and provincial drug-control departments to conduct market surveillance and remove the flagged batches from circulation. Adverse events and quality complaints are to be reported through DRAP’s pharmacovigilance channels.
What makes this latest set of alerts stand out is not just the recall language. It’s the pattern. In multiple cases, the problem was not minor quality drift but something much worse: missing active ingredients, counterfeit products masquerading as legitimate brands, and, in at least one injectable case, sterility failure. For patients already dealing with pregnancy-related care, anemia treatment, nerve pain, or infection, that’s not a technical regulatory issue. It’s a real safety risk.
