The national drug regulatory agency Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has found widely-used painkiller Combiflam and cold medicine D Cold Total to be ‘substandard’.
Sixty drugs, including the two aforementioned, failed quality tests in sample-based screening done in March. CDSCO’s safety bulletin described these drugs as "not of Standard Quality/Spurious/Adulterated/Misbranded". Anti-allergic Cetrizine, Cipla’s Oflox-100 DT tablets and Theo Asthalin tablets have also been found to be substandard.
Combiflam is manufactured by Sanofi India while D Cold Total is made by Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare India. These pills are commonly found in many Indian households. For a number of health problems like cough, cold, allergies and pain, these are the go-to pills for many. These are easily available over the counter without a prescription at chemists.