Drugs inspectors Niharika Das and S.K. Sinha conduct raid on the godown of a medicine distributor at Bidanasi on Monday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 7: The Directorate of Drugs Control Administration on Monday conducted raids on the godowns of a medicine distributor in the city in connection with the investigation into a suspected counterfeit vaccine racket.

The drugs inspector had lodged a complaint with the Bidanasi police on June 7 about the movement and circulation of suspected counterfeit DTap-IPV+Hib (Pentaxim) vaccine.

The Pentaxim vaccine is a combination of five drugs and is administered to infants in the first six weeks after birth till five years of age as a protection against tetanus, pertussis, polio, piphtheria and other infections. A vial of the vaccine is priced at Rs 2,500.

Following a complaint, the Directorate of Drugs Control had checked the records and found that the number of Pentaxim vaccine sold in the month of March was higher than the authorities had supplied to the market. The authorities suspect that fake vaccine was being circulated.

In Balasore, a doctor had detected a counterfeit vaccine from the errors printed on the label of the pack. The doctor instead of reporting the matter to the Balasore drugs inspector had initially claimed to have returned a few vials of the suspected fake vaccine to the supplier in Cuttack.

“There are discrepancies in his statement. The doctor now claims that he has destroyed the vaccine. We are probing into the entire episode to ascertain the truth,” said Niharika Das, another drugs inspector.

Besides, the representatives of the Indian importer and marketer of the vaccine had also submitted a written complaint to the city police that the particular vaccine was more than its supply in eastern parts of the country.

“We have registered a case based on the complaint filed by the drugs controller that the number of vaccine vials in circulation was more than what had been imported,” said deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora.

After today’s raids, an official said: “We are yet to come across any stock of the counterfeit vaccine during the raid, we have seized a few documents, including purchase and sale bills of the distributor relating to the stock, '