CDSCO labs flag 205 drug samples as ‘not of standard quality’ in November

NEW DELHI — The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Friday declared 205 drug samples tested by the Central and state drugs regulatory authorities as ‘Not of Standard Quality (NSQ)' in its monthly drug alert for November.

While the Central Drugs Laboratories identified 64 drug samples as NSQ, the State Drugs Testing Laboratories identified 141 drug samples as NSQ.

As per routine regulatory surveillance activity, the list of Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) and Spurious drugs is being displayed on the CDSCO portal on a monthly basis.

“For the month of November 2025, Central Drugs Laboratories have identified 64 Drug Samples to be Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) and State Drugs Testing Laboratories have identified 141 Drug Samples as Not of Standard Quality (NSQ),” the alert said.

Identification of drug samples as NSQ is done based on failure of the drug sample in one or the other specified quality parameters. The failure is specific to the drug products of the batch tested by the government laboratory, and it does not warrant any concerns on the other drug products available in the market, the health officials said.

Further, in November, “two drug samples from North Zone, Ghaziabad, were identified as spurious drugs, which were manufactured by unauthorised manufacturers using brand name owned by other company,” they added. The matter is under investigation, and action will be taken as per the Act & Rules.

This action of identifying NSQ and Spurious medicines is taken regularly in collaboration with state regulators to ensure that these drugs are identified and removed from the market.

In October, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had declared 211 drug samples tested by the Central and state drugs regulatory authorities as NSQ.

While the Central Drugs Laboratories identified 63 drug samples as NSQ, the State Drugs Testing Laboratories identified 148 drug samples as NSQ.