The Supreme Court has allowed the sale of Saridon and two other drugs for now after the government had banned 328 combination drugs last week. The top court’s order comes on a petition filed by the drug makers.
The top court has sought the centre’s reply on petitions against order to ban fixed-dose combination or FDCs manufactured before 1988.
Painkiller Saridon and skin cream Panderm were among 328 FDC drugs banned by the government to stop their “irrational use”. The health ministry while banning the drugs had said the ingredients in these medicines do not add to the benefits that people can get from taking them.
The country’s drug advisory body, the Drug Technical Advisory Board or DTAB, backed the centre’s decision saying there is no therapeutic justification for the ingredients in these drugs and they must be banned in public interest.
