The High Court on Monday asked the government authorities to explain in four weeks why their inaction to prevent the manufacture and marketing of fake blood sugar test strips would not be declared illegal.
The court also asked the Pharma Solutions Bangladesh Limited to withdraw its counterfeit blood sugar test strips from the market in presence of a representative from the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.
The HC also asked the company to destroy the fake blood sugar test strips in presence of the officials of the Directorate General of Drug Administration and Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice SM Masud Hossain Dolon passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, as a consumer found 11 out of 50 Accu-Chek Active blood sugar test strips counterfeit after purchasing them from the Lazz Pharma Limited鈥檚 Kakrail branch in the capital.
The Pharma Solutions Bangladesh Limited imported the Accu-Chek Active blood sugar test strips, said the CAB in its petition.聽聽聽
The High Court also asked the Lazz Pharma Limited to inform the court the number of counterfeit strips already sold and the remaining number of unsold strips in their stock.
The court asked the director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration to explain why a directive would not be issued to cancel the drug licence of the Pharma Solutions Bangladesh Limited for manufacture and distribution of fake diabetes test strips.
The court also asked the drug administration directorate and the company to explain why punitive actions would not be taken against the company for production and marketing of the fake strips.
The CAB said in its petition that it came to know from a meeting of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection on February 11, 2024 that a Bangladeshi company is importing and marketing Accu-Chek Active blood sugar test strips without any approvals from the government.
Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua appeared for the CAB, while deputy attorney general Tusher Kanti Roy and assistant attorneys general Selim Azad and Anis ul Mawa Arju represented the state.
