Firm’s affordable drugs dogged by safety concerns

Indian brand sparks quality alerts, write Andjela Milivojevic, Paul Eccles and Priyanka Pulla

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Rohit Mukul's Instagram profile contains everything one might expect from a man named on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list this year.

Alongside photos of sports cars and snowmobiles are videos in which the Indian businessman explains his family’s business model of making high-quality medicines affordable.

Mr Mukul runs a fast-growing chain of chemists that sells medicines largely made by Zee Laboratories, a company started by his father that manufactures generic drugs — cheaper copies of medicines produced once an original patent expires. Although they are sold at a knockdown price, generics must contain the same key ingredients as the original.

But Zee Laboratories’ drugs have failed at least 86 quality tests by Indian regulators, and the company has faced multiple court cases, according to reporting by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBI) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Academic research in Nigeria and public notices in the Philippines showed that Zee Laboratories’ medicines have also failed regulatory tests in those countries.

A TBI) investigation earlier this year found bad chemotherapy medicines made by Zee Laboratories were available in sub-Saharan Africa.

Aline Plancon, the former head of Interpol’s health and security sub-directorate who now works as an independent health policy advisor, said the failed tests point to a pattern of neglect.

“There is a very big problem with this company, and it deserves to be shut down and at least carefully investigated and looked into urgently, because it's obviously issuing and manufacturing bad quality medicines,” Ms Plancon said after reviewing details of the failed tests.