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PROJECT ELECTORAL BOND

Seven firms that failed drug quality

tests gave money to political parties
through electoral bonds
Drug regulation is just one area where the pharmaceutical
industry seeks concessions from governments, say experts.
Tabassum Barnagarwala & Project Electoral Bond READ IN APP
Mar 18, 2024 · 06:30 am

Design | Divya Aslesha

Thirty-five pharmaceutical companies in India have contributed nearly Rs 1,000 crore to political parties through electoral bonds, data released by
the Election Commission on March 14 has revealed.

Of these, at least seven companies were being investigated for poor quality drugs when they purchased the bonds.

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Pharmaceutical manufacturers are regulated by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which empowers state-controlled Food and Drug Administrations
to inspect manufacturing units as well as test the quality of medicines being sold in the market.

Any state Food and Drug Administration can send notices to a company if its drugs fail the quality test. But punitive action – such as the suspension
of manufacturing or cancellation of a manufacturing licence – can only be taken by the state where the company’s factory is located.

“We often see a lax approach by drug regulators, both at state and central level,” said Amar Jesani, editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. He
said it would not be surprising “if pharma companies finance political parties to strike some compromise in regulatory cases at the state level”.

Other experts noted that drug regulation is just one area where the pharmaceutical industry seeks concessions from governments. Firms could also
be looking for cheap land, tax exemptions, favourable policies or for price caps to be removed.

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More clarity on what prompted the firms to make donations to the parties is likely to emerge once the unique codes of the bonds that match the
donors and the recipients become public.

Regardless, experts say it is significant that drug companies are a major contributor of political finance. “They have invested hundreds of crores in
political parties,” said S Srinivasan, an activist who is part of the All India Drug Action Network. “Nobody believes that they did it for the love of
democracy, elections or charity.”

Here is a list of the seven companies that received notices from the state Food and Drug Administrations the years they purchased bonds.

Hetero Labs and Hetero Healthcare bought electoral bonds for Rs 40 crore in April 2022. In the preceding 10 months, the Maharashtra Food and
Drug Administration issued six notices issued to the Hyderabad-based company for substandard drugs.

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At least three of them pertained to remdesivir, an antiviral drug widely used to treat Covid-19, that helped Hetero expand its business during the
pandemic.

A lab test conducted by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration found that a remdesivir sample had yellow-coloured liquid instead of clear
liquid. A notice regarding this was issued to Hetero in July 2021. A second sample had less than required quantity of the drug and a notice was issued
in October that year. A third sample of remdesivir was found “not of standard quality”, with a notice issued in December 2021.

Such a violation could lead to the suspension of a company’s manufacturing licence, said Omprakash Sadhwani, former joint commissioner of drugs
in Maharashtra.

But the Telangana regulator did not act against Hetero. The company recalled the batch of medicines found substandard by Maharashtra.

Two other products of Hetero were also found substandard in 2021: an antifungal medicine, Itbor capsule, and Monocef, used for bacterial infection.

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In addition to the Rs 40 crore bonds Herero bought in 2022, it also purchased bonds worth Rs 10 crore in July 2023 and Rs 10 crore in October 2023 –
a total of bonds worth Rs 60 crore.

Torrent Pharma bought electoral bonds worth Rs 77.5 crore between May 2019 till January 2024.

The Gujarat-based company’s antiplatelet medicine Deplatt-150 had failed the salicylic acid test and was declared substandard by the Maharashtra
Food and Drug Administration in 2018.

In October 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to the firm for repeated quality-related failures at its
manufacturing unit. Such a notice attracts inspection by Indian authorities and could lead to the suspension of a company’s manufacturing licence.
However, the Gujarat government did not take any action against the pharmaceutical company.

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In September 2019, Torrent Pharma’s drug Losar H, used to lower blood pressure, was found to be substandard by the Gujarat Food and Drug
Administration. In December 2021, its medicine Nicoran LV, used to treat heart diseases, failed to meet standards when tested by the Maharashtra
Food and Drug Administration.

In February 2023, its Lopamide medicine, used to treat diarrhoea, failed the dissolution test and was found substandard.

The pharmaceutical company purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 12.5 crore in May and October 2019, Rs 7.50 crore in April 2021, Rs 25 crore in
January and October 2022 , Rs 7 crore in October 2023 and Rs 25.5 crore in January 2024.

Zydus Healthcare purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 29 crore between 2022 and 2023.

In 2021, the Bihar drug regulator had declared a batch of remdesivir medicines manufactured by the Gujarat-based company as “not of standard
quality” after traces of bacterial endotoxin were found in them. Several patients were reported to have suffered adverse drug reactions from the
medicines.

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Women

But the Gujarat drug regulator did not collect samples of these batches for further testing and nor did it initiate any action against the manufacturing
unit of Zydus.

Glenmark received five notices for its substandard drugs between 2022 and 2023. Four of these were issued by the Maharashtra Food and Drugs
Administration, which flagged its blood pressure regulating medicine Telma as substandard, mostly failing a dissolution test. The pharmaceutical
company purchased Rs 9.75 crore of electoral bonds in November 2022.

Cipla received four show-cause notices for its drugs between 2018 and 2022. Since 2019, it has purchased bonds worth Rs 39.2 crore.

In August 2018, its RC cough syrup failed to meet standards during an inspection. It purchased bonds worth Rs 14 crore the next year.

In July 2021, it received notices twice for its remdesivir medicine, Cipremi. Like Hetero, Cipremi was found to have less than the required quantity of
remdesivir in it. Cipla bought bonds worth Rs 25.2 crore in November 2022.

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IPCA Laboratories Limited bought bonds worth Rs 13.5 crore between November 2022 and October 2023. In October 2018, its anti-parasitic
medicine, Lariago, had lower than required chloroquine phosphate levels and was found substandard. The medicine, flagged by the Mumbai Food
and Drugs Administration, was manufactured in a Dehradun plant of IPCA.

Intas Pharmaceutical bought 20 crore worth of bonds in October 2022. In 2020, the company’s Enapril-5 tablet had failed the dissolution test by the
Maharashtra FDA.

In recent years, the country’s pharmaceutical sector has been in the global spotlight for deaths and infections linked to Indian-made cough syrups
and eye ointments in several countries.

The governments of these countries have suspended purchases, and international bodies organisations like the World Health Organization have
issued alerts but the response of Indian authorities has been lax.

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ies

But the implications of the pharmaceutical industry funding political parties go far beyond drug regulatory action.

Malini Aisola from the All India Drug Action Network said political financing enables pharmaceutical companies to secure “privileged access, power
and influence in government policy making”.

Prashant Reddy, who has extensively researched drug regulatory laws in India, said political funding by the pharmaceutical sector might be aimed at
influencing the larger legal framework in its favour. He pointed out that recent legislations introduced by the Central government reduce punitive
action against the makers of substandard drugs.

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this report incorrectly used the term “spurious” for “not of standard quality”. The story has been
edited to reflect that.

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With inputs from Anjana Meenakshi, Maria Teresa Raju and Nandini Chandrashekar.

This report is part of a collaborative project involving three news organisations – Newslaundry, Scroll, The News Minute – and independent journalists.

Project Electoral Bond includes Aban Usmani, Anand Mangnale, Anisha Sheth, Anjana Meenakshi, Ayush Tiwari, Azeefa Fathima, Basant Kumar,
Dhanya Rajendran, Jayashree Arunachalam, Joyal, M Rajshekhar, Maria Teresa Raju, Nandini Chandrashekar, Neel Madhav, Nikita Saxena, Parth MN,
Pooja Prasanna, Prajwal Bhat, Prateek Goyal, Pratyush Deep, Ragamalika Karthikeyan, Raman Kirpal, Ravi Nair, Sachi Hegde, Shabbir Ahmed,
Shivnarayan Rajpurohit, Siddharth Mishra, Supriya Sharma, Tabassum Barnagarwala and Vaishnavi Rathore.

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Pharmaceutical Industry Political Financing Electoral Bonds Torrent Group Hetero Drugs Lok Sabha 2024

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 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

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BOOK EXCERPT

Translated fiction: Kunjootty is

struggling to write the stories of the
natives of his village
An excerpt from ‘The Book of Exodus’, by VJ James, translated
from the Malayalam by Ministhy S.
VJ James & Ministhy S  
An hour ago
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

Author VJ James. | Ajunaith

Twenty-one years later, inside a narrow room of the shelter home, Kunjootty was losing his way, caught up in ghastly nightmares.

There was only darkness everywhere.

It had been four days since Kunjootty had lost his moorings. All these days, with a mind heavy with moist pain and eyes swollen with lack of sleep,
Eli had been keeping watch at her son’s side, gazing intently at his face. Expecting Kunjootty to wake up at any moment, hoping desperately that even
in his stupor he might call out, “Amma”, Eli intermittently swabbed at her streaming eyes with the edge of her kavani and mopped up the sweat on
her son’s forehead and neck. Eli did not budge from her seat to change the kavani draped around her torso, which had become a soggy receptacle of
tears and perspiration.

Oblivious of the surroundings, Kunjootty lay stretched out, the very embodiment of an impassivity bereft of responsibilities and obligations. He was
enchained amid a tangle of tubes like an unbecoming ghost. A face reminiscent of an overgrown wilderness – dried lips that trembled occasionally,
blackened eyelids with feeble signs of life. As she watched, a sob emerged from her anguished heart. ...

Read More

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BOOK EXCERPT

A new book re-creates the dramatic

battle of Chhamb between India and
Pakistan in 1965
An excerpt from ‘1965, Courage Unleashed: Short Stories of the
Indo-Pak War’ by Ian Cardozo.
Ian Cardozo  
5 hours ago
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

An Indian tank during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. | Wikimedia Commons

Brigadier Behram Master, Commander 191 Indian Infantry Brigade, was in the hill sector at Dewa, giving orders to his “O” Group when a Pakistani
helicopter spotted them and asked for artillery fire on the Indians. An artillery round landed on an ammunition dump located within the post and
the resultant explosion killed the brigadier and several of his officers. Dewa was a post that overlooked the Chhamb plains. This occurred on 15
August 1965 at 1000 hours. War had not been declared, but such issues did not matter to the Pakistan Army. The Indians were not aware that the
artillery shelling on that day was but a prelude for something much bigger.

Chhamb had been a battleground between India and Pakistan in the Indo-Pak war of 1947-48 and would figure
in most of the wars fought between the two countries thereafter. Chhamb is strategically important to both
India and Pakistan and that is why it has been a common denominator of all the wars we have fought with
Pakistan – except Kargil.
Chhamb can be used as a launch pad by India to access important strategic objectives in Pakistan. The Marala Headworks lie within striking distance
from the international border (IB) as well as from the Cease-Fire Line, both of which lie ahead of Chhamb. There is also Hardinge Bridge, over the
Chenab River, which if destroyed or even damaged, can choke the Strike Forces of the Pakistan Army and prevent them from carrying out their
assigned roles in areas of vital importance to their security. The area west of Chhamb is an ideal tank country, with plenty of scope for manoeuvre
for mobile forces. ...

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US POLITICS

US: Democrats are putting women’s

rights front and centre of the
campaign – and it could be decisive
Abortion, reproductive justice and sexual abuse have become
major talking points that are polling high among women and
might win over single-issue voters.
Joyojeet Pal  
10 hours ago
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 20. | Reuters

“There has to be some form of punishment”

“For the woman?”
“Yes, for the woman”

A clip of former US President Donald Trump asking for women to be criminally prosecuted for accessing an abortion featured on the main screen of
the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago from August 19-22.

This was followed by three women who came on stage talking openly about late-term pregnancy complications, miscarriages untreated by the
medical system and domestic sexual abuse. Hadley Duvall, a young survivor of sexual abuse by her stepfather, spoke directly into the camera,
addressing Trump, “What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?” to a stunned silence in the room.

Kamala HQ
@KamalaHQ · Follow

Hadley Duvall: Trump calls abortion bans across the country a beautiful thing.
What’s so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?

Watch on X

8:27 AM · Aug 20, 2024

36.5K Reply Share

Read 871 replies

The 2024 Democratic National Convention was not a second show of the 2016 Hillary Clinton ascendance. Eight years ago, the question of whether
the US was ready for a female president was encapsulated by a meme featuring her predator husband’s infamous words, “I did not have sexual
relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky”. It was a reminder of the looming shadow of insider politics that made the rules for women in DC
politics....

Read More

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BOOK EXCERPT
 Home Project Electoral Bond
A journalist’s
Common Ground
The India Fix
account
Eco India The Latest
ofThehow
Reel
people
The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

from poor countries are ‘enslaved’ to

run cyber scams
An excerpt from ‘The Maz Files: Scoops, Scams And Showdowns’,
by Mazhar Farooqui.
Mazhar Farooqui  
10 hours ago

Author Mazhar Farooqui. | via Instagram

Like many groundbreaking investigations, this global exposé began with a simple lead. In late February 2024, Farhaan Wasti, a friend from Dubai,
contacted me about a situation involving a mother of two from my hometown.

Rose Jehan, a physiotherapist, had travelled to Dubai from Lucknow in search of employment. When job opportunities proved elusive, she accepted a
digital marketing position offering a salary of Dh3,000, along with accommodation and meals.

For many South Asians facing unemployment in their home countries, it seemed like a lifeline. Little did Rose know, however, that this seemingly
promising offer would soon reveal its dark side. Before long, she found herself ensnared in a cybercrime syndicate run by Chinese scammers
engaging in forced labour and human trafficking.

In a desperate voice message to Farhaan, Rose described how she was held captive and forced to defraud people with promises of additional income,
only to drain their bank accounts. Her passport had been confiscated and her phone remained under the custody of her employers from 7.30 a.m. to
8.30 p.m., during which period she impersonated a representative from a purported Mumbai-based company called Coin DCX Company. When I tried
to reach her after work hours, she became frightened and hastily ended the call....

Read More

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COMMUNAL POLITICS

Why residents of Assam capital are

not buying the chief minister’s claim
of ‘flood jihad’
Experts and residents blamed the construction of flyovers, and
the encroachment of wetlands for the floods in Guwahati.
Rokibuz Zaman  
12 hours ago
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

A man carries his daughter on back as he wades through a flooded street in Guwahati in June. | Biju Boro/ AFP

On August 5, Guwahati experienced one of the worst urban floods in its living memory. A two-hour downpour left shops and homes inundated.

The largest city in the North East came to a standstill. Thousands of residents were stuck on the roads and newly-built flyovers for more than six or
seven hours.

In the face of mounting criticism, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma blamed a private university located in neighbouring state of
Meghalaya for the flood. Indeed, he went a step ahead and accused the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya of “flood jihad”.

The USTM’s campus, Sarma alleged, was built by cutting trees and destroying hills in the Ri Bhoi district, triggering floods in Guwahati.

The university, set up in 2008, is owned by Mahbubul Hoque, a Muslim of Bengali origin from Assam’s Karimganj district. “We talk about land jihad,
he has started a flood jihad against Assam,” Sarma claimed. “Otherwise, no one can cut hills in such a ruthless way. It is a deliberate [act].”

In accusing the USTM of a sinister plot, Sarma was echoing social media accounts that claimed in 2022 that miscreants had destroyed a river
embankment in Assam’s Silchar as part of a “flood jihad” against Hindu residents of the town....

Read More

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VIRUS ALERT

Mpox: The smallpox cousin that has

set off a global health alarm, as
explained by a microbiologist
Though usually mild, mpox can still potentially cause severe
illness. Health officials are concerned that more cases will arise
with increased travel.
Rodney E Rohde, The Conversation  
Yesterday · 10:00 pm
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

NIAID, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

On August 14, the World Health Organization declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern. There have been over 15,600 cases
and over 530 deaths reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries in Africa. The disease had previously caused a
global outbreak from 2022 to 2023.

Mpox – previously called monkeypox – isn’t a new disease. The first confirmed human case was in 1970, when the virus was isolated from a child
suspected of having smallpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though usually mild, mpox can still potentially cause severe illness. Health
officials are concerned that more cases will arise with increased travel.

I’m a researcher who has worked in public health and medical laboratories for over three decades, especially in the realm of diseases with animal
origins. What exactly is happening in the current outbreak, and what does history tell us about mpox?

A cousin of smallpox
Mpox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to a subset of the Poxviridae family of viruses called Orthopoxvirus. This subset includes the
smallpox, vaccinia and cowpox viruses. While an animal reservoir for monkeypox virus is unknown, African rodents are suspected to play a part in
transmission. The monkeypox virus has only been isolated twice from an animal in nature. Diagnostic testing for mpox is currently only available at
Laboratory Response Network labs in the US and globally....

Read More

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THE ELECTION TRICYCLE

Podcast: Have the Trump campaign

and the British far-right begun to
flounder?
A podcast by Emily Tamkin, Tom Hamilton and Rohan Venkat.
Emily Tamkin, Tom Hamilton, Rohan Venkat  
Yesterday · 08:30 pm
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

At a Donald Trump rally on July 31. | Reuters

Recent polling shows that the Democrat's shiny new candidate – Kamala Harris – is ahead in almost all the swing states. Meanwhile, the British far-
right, who seemed so potent last week, have bee repelled by anti-fascist campaigners and the criminal justice system. Is the tide beginning to turn in
favour of reasoned debate? Emily Tamkin and Tom Hamilton report back, while Rohan Venkat, back from vacation, picks up on the turbulence in
Bangladesh.

We welcome your comments at [email protected] .

Bangladesh Kamala Harris Donald Trump

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Related
Podcast: UK’s Labour romps to victory but are there cracks in the voter
coalition?

REFUGEE CRISIS

Bangladesh: Uncertainty, fear and

tentative hope among Rohingya
refugees
The regime change set off violence in and around refugee camps
but activists and relief organisations are looking to Muhammad
Yunus to bring change.
Sarah Nandi, The Conversation  
Yesterday · 07:30 pm
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

At the Kutupalang refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh in June. | Reuters

Bangladesh is experiencing a seismic shift after 18 years of Awami League rule ended abruptly due to intensive student protests. This upheaval, and
the crackdowns that resulted in the deaths of more than 300 protesters, forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country and ushered in an
interim government.

But amid this recent political turmoil, the fate of the nearly one million Rohingya refugees residing in the Cox’s Bazar camp in southeastern
Bangladesh has grown uncertain.

For years, Bangladesh has grappled with deepening domestic challenges, most notably increasing inequality, nepotism and contested elections.
However, the current moment offers tentative hope, as the new government seems committed to providing justice to the protesters, to reducing
inequality and to adhering to human rights norms.

Substantial challenges
The new government faces a steep challenge.

Rohingya refugees continue to languish in a deteriorating security situation. With reports of kidnappings and forced conscription in neighbouring
Myanmar, the arrivals of war-wounded refugees from that country have increased....

Read More

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RESERVATIONS DEBATE

Why the BJP has become cautious on

matters of caste
Anxieties among Dalit and Adivasi voters that the ruling party is
anti-reservation has forced it to take the social justice line.
Abhik Deb  
Yesterday · 07:08 pm
 Home Project Electoral Bond Common Ground The India Fix Eco India The Latest The Reel The Field Magazine Video Trending Sections

Narendra Modi is facing opposition from his own allies on matters related to reservation. | Reuters

Between 2018 and May 2023, the Narendra Modi government inducted 63 specialists as mid-level bureaucrats through lateral entry, bypassing the
established recruitment system where a designated number of posts are reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. This sparked
some resentment among the Dalit and Adivasi middle classes but the Bharatiya Janata Party ignored it.

This month, however, after the Opposition and the BJP’s own allies in the National Democratic Alliance criticised its decision to issue an
advertisement seeking to recruit 45 bureaucrats through lateral entry, the government lost no time withdrawing it

On Tuesday, Jitendra Singh, the minister handling the portfolio of personnel, asked the Union Public Service Commission to retract the notice. He told
the recruitment body that the absence of reservations in lateral entry appointments must be “reviewed and reformed”.

What prompted the change in the government’s position?

Political observers say this is directly connected to the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha election where the BJP lost ground in seats reserved for both
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Campaign speeches by BJP leaders asking voters to give the Hindtuva party a large majority in Parliament so
that it could amend the Constitution had sparked fears among Dalits and Adivasis that the party intended to dismantle the quotas for them in
educational institutions and government jobs....

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