00:00If you have also been excited about the weight loss drugs and the revolution that's going on in the country
00:05right now, then this story is for you.
00:09Listen in to what happened on the 18th of April.
00:12In Gurugram, a car stops at the DLF Phase 4.
00:16Very elite, DLF Phase 4.
00:18Drug controller officers open the boot and what they find inside are Manjaro injections.
00:24All six doses of strength over there, market value nearly 56 lakh rupees.
00:32But of course, no cold chain, no license.
00:37Two men arrested.
00:39But when inspectors examined the packaging, they found out that all the fonts were wrong.
00:46There was missing storage labels, incorrect manufacturing details.
00:49All of these basically saying that these Manjaro injections were all fake.
00:57Designed to look real and meant for patients who were going to pay the full price.
01:02Now, why does this story matter?
01:05Remember, Manjaro belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1, originally designed for type 2 diabetes.
01:11Now, most wanted weight loss injection in urban India.
01:15One dose costs between 13,000 to 25,000 rupees through a legitimate pharmacy, of course.
01:21When I say one dose, I mean for a month at least.
01:24That price, that demand, that scarcity, that is the exact gap counterfeits are filling.
01:30And Gurugram is not the end of the story.
01:32The ceased containment there, the entire consignment was tracked back to Delhi's Bhagirath Palace.
01:37India's largest wholesale pharma market.
01:40The supply chain is still under investigation.
01:42Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, any city where demand is high, access is limited, should be asking the same question today.
01:50It's Gurgaon now.
01:51Could it be other cities as well?
01:53Now, what has Eli Lilly said on this?
01:55We got a statement out of them and let's play that out for you as well.
01:59They said the company has confirmed that it is aware of the Gurugram seizure.
02:03It calls the recovered stock suspicious counterfeit.
02:07And it says it is actively supporting the investigation.
02:10Their statement goes further.
02:12That Lilly says that it will continue to work with regulatory and law enforcement authorities worldwide.
02:17And I quote,
02:26And the last line there in the statement is significant.
02:29They say this is not a company calling in an isolated incident.
02:34This is a company signaling that the problem is bigger than one car in one city.
02:40But why is this so important?
02:43Because the real danger is far too big.
02:47And nobody seems to be talking about it clearly enough.
02:50So let me lay it out for you.
02:52A fake Manjaro pen could contain the wrong dose.
02:56Zero active ingredients.
02:57Or maybe just nothing at all.
02:59Another drug entirely, including insulin.
03:02Or even bacterial contaminated injections directly into your bloodstream.
03:06Now, a diabetic patient who injects zero active ingredient believes they are protected.
03:13Their blood sugar spikes silently.
03:15A patient who gets to higher dose could get into hypoglycemic shock.
03:20Global health regulators have flagged reported outcomes from counterfeit GLP-1s,
03:26including cardiac complications, nervous system disorders, hospitalizations.
03:30And because most people are sourcing these drugs outside,
03:34formal channels have no doctors actively monitor them at all.
03:39And by the time something goes wrong,
03:41the link between the fake drug is rarely made.
03:45So, on the program today,
03:48we thought let's arm you with the right information.
03:51What are the five checks every time you should do
03:56before you buy a GLP-1 drug?
03:59Munjaro or otherwise.
04:00Number one, packaging.
04:03Blurred prints, missing cold chain label, inconsistent font.
04:08Know that it's a fake.
04:10Number two, batch number.
04:14Gurugram authorities have flagged six batches that are under investigation.
04:18We'll put that out on the screen for you.
04:20Take a quick screenshot from that
04:22so you know that these batches are now fake.
04:25This include D949702, D924668.
04:33All of these D983868, D928027, D994806.
04:46There is also D949932.
04:52And all of those as is being flagged on your screen over there.
04:55Take quick screenshots and ensure that you check your batch number
04:59next time you inject yourself.
05:01Do not use these at all.
05:03And number three, perhaps the most important here, source.
05:08If it did not come from a registered pharmacy against a prescription,
05:13you do not know what is inside.
05:16It can do more harm than good to you.
05:19And number five, this is easy now.
05:22Barcode.
05:23Eli Lilly has an online barcode scanner.
05:26Scan the pen.
05:27It will tell you if it's genuine.
05:29If you have already used an injection and you are now unsure about it,
05:33call your doctor today.
05:34Do not wait for symptoms because we do not know
05:38the length to which these drugs could be already spread in the market.
05:4356 lakh rupees of fake medication stopped in one car in one city.
05:49And now confirmed by the manufacturer itself.
05:52The question now, what you have to think about is
05:55how many other cars are still moving in cities across the country
06:00with fakes like these and many more.
06:06All right, to talk to us a little bit more about this,
06:09we've got the man of the art.
06:11The man who actually busted this racket.
06:13Dr. Amandeep Chauhan, drug controller officer of Gurugram is joining us.
06:17Thank you so much for your time, sir.
06:19And firstly, a big congratulations for having busted this.
06:23My first question is, take us back to how and from whom actually you got this tip
06:29that something of this magnitude was happening right under our nose.
06:33And there was an informer who informed me that yes,
06:37Monjaro injection is running out spurious in the market.
06:40So just now he showed me one of the injection,
06:45but he told that this injection was not for sale.
06:50So he picked up the injection from somewhere in the market only.
06:54Then he came to know that this injection can be of spurious in nature
07:00as the guy who offered to sale was at much discounted prices,
07:06which even the company is not offering to.
07:10Discounted prices, you said, sir.
07:11So what was the offer price on these fakes?
07:18He was offering at 28% less than the M&M.
07:23Okay.
07:24Okay.
07:25Okay.
07:26Sir, I think the key thing here to understand is that we don't know
07:30how many more such, you know, fakes are really out there in the market.
07:34In the interest, in public interest,
07:36could you show our viewers the difference between
07:39the real packaging and the fake one?
07:47Yes.
07:48As of now,
07:48whatever we had physically verified in this product
07:51with respect to the original product,
07:54if you see that there is a,
07:56the phone size is different.
08:00There are comas, full stops and semicolons
08:04which are not there on the original product
08:06and this fake product is having the same.
08:09The alphabets also are in,
08:13you can see if one of the word is shortage.
08:17So the S is small in the original pack
08:20and it's bigger size in the fake product.
08:24So what we can see that,
08:26yes, for sure,
08:27the same cannot be checked by the,
08:30by any layman person or any patient
08:33who is consuming the product
08:34to identify between the spurious
08:36and the original product.
08:38But for sure,
08:39we are working on this
08:40and we will make a chart of this product.
08:43Yes.
08:43We had already informed our stakeholders
08:47like all the officers at Haryana
08:49and even circulated all across India
08:51also for our officers
08:53to check whether the present stock available
08:55in the market is spurious or not.
09:00All right.
09:00So, sir,
09:01those are important ones
09:02and I would love for you
09:03to send us more details
09:04so we can also circulate it
09:05so that people are armed
09:06with the right information.
09:08So,
09:08would it be fair to say
09:09that at this point,
09:10you're suspecting there
09:11could be more such fakes
09:13already in the market?
09:17This is a quick pen.
09:20This is 12.5 mg.
09:22My left hand is original injection.
09:24My right hand is spurious injection.
09:27It's a liquid injection.
09:29If you keep them together,
09:31you'll know that
09:33its font size,
09:35its font color
09:36is more dark and bigger.
09:39Its light is.
09:40Okay.
09:41Isi tarhe se
09:42joh original
09:43is.
09:44Its me joh
09:44joh yoh
09:44lal rung ki pati
09:45hai.
09:45Yeh patli hai.
09:46Yeh moati hai.
09:48Okay.
09:48Agar aap
09:49is ke back side
09:50pe dekhenge
09:50to isme joh
09:51storage condition
09:52ka S hai.
09:54It's be
09:54beade letters
09:55me hai.
09:55Isme chote letters
09:57me hai.
09:58Or iska
09:58bhi
09:59joh yoh
09:59original
10:00болt
10:01me hai.
10:02Or
10:02joh
10:02duplicate
10:03hai.
10:04Usme
10:04bolt
10:04me
10:04nai hai.
10:05Agar
10:05haem
10:06ni che
10:06aie
10:06gay
10:06agar
10:07haem
10:09is
10:10If you can see it in the original product, where there is FI, there is no sign of fI, but
10:17the fake product is in it.
10:21So, when you can see it in the original toll-free number, there is no sign of semi-colon.
10:30But when you can see it in the fake product, you will know that it has in the toll-free
10:36number.
10:36After that, there is a semi-colon.
10:38This is something that we have known after the prime of SI investigation,
10:44that this is a leak.
10:47Now, we will verify the label again.
10:51And if we get any changes in it, we will tell you that.
10:57I think that's important. That's a very clear distinction, sir.
11:00And the video that you've sent us, we've managed to play that out as well,
11:02for people to sort of understand that difference.
11:04But what I'm trying to understand from you, sir, is at this point,
11:07are you afraid that there are more fakes that are already in the market?
11:11You've managed to catch one car.
11:13Could there be more such cars with more such injections already floating around?
11:19Yes. As of now, whatever we had physically verified in this product, with respect to the original product,
11:27if you see that the phone size is different, there are comas, full stops and semi-colons,
11:36which are not there on the original product and this fake product is having the same.
11:41The alphabets also are in CV.
11:45You can see if one of the word is shortage.
11:50So, the S is small in the original product.
11:52Yeah, I got that. I got that, sir. I'm trying to get to another question here.
11:57I'm trying to get to another question here.
12:00I'm not sure if this can be heard. I'm requesting my producers.
12:03Yeah. Sir, I'm just trying to understand from you, are you afraid that there are more such already in the
12:10market?
12:17Yes. As of now, whatever we had physically verified in this product with respect to the original product,
12:24if you see that the phone size is different, there are comas, full stops and semi-colons,
12:34which are not there on the original product and this fake product is having the same.
12:39The alphabets also are in CV.
12:43You can see if one of the word is shortage.
12:47So, the S is small in the original pack and it's bigger size in the fake product.
12:54So, what we can see that, yes, for sure, the same cannot be checked by any layman person
13:02or any patient who is consuming the product to identify between the spurious and the original product.
13:08But for sure, we are working on this and we will make a chart of this product.
13:13We had already informed our stakeholders like all the officers at Haryana and even circulated all across India also for
13:22our officers to check whether the present stock available in the market.
13:26Yeah, there is a suspect, but yes, for sure, because the guy started, we had investigated him to up to
13:33some extent.
13:33The guy was a newcomer and he just started few days back only and his main mode of apprehending was
13:40he was working through India Mart.
13:41So, this is also a big question that how India Mart without any license holder is allowing such persons to
13:47sell the medicinal products which are life saving products on any portal.
13:51Why?
13:52Without any license, without any verification, if this is done, this is wrong.
13:56So, he was selling the product through India Mart.
13:59We had got the information that six of the injections were sold to Hyderabad also.
14:04We had conveyed to the concerned patient also that please don't consume this product as the product is spurious in
14:10nature.
14:11We are trying to collate more information that where he had sold the product at India Mart so that we
14:17can inform that not to use the project as soon as possible.
14:21All right.
14:23Thank you so much, Dr. Amandeep, they're bringing us details on what exactly went wrong with those drugs.
14:28We'll keep a track, very close one, on the story and keep bringing you the latest.
14:32In the meanwhile, do remember those checks that we brought to you.
14:36If you are somebody or you know of somebody who's taking these drugs, they need to be careful and we
14:40will, of course, be bringing you up to speed with all of that.
14:43For the moment, that's all we can pack in.
14:45Thanks so much for watching.
14:46See you tomorrow.
14:46Bye-bye.
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