A ban on painkiller Saridon has been lifted by the Supreme Court.
The headache relief medicine was one of the 343 fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs banned in a notification by the Centre last year.
FDCs are pharmaceutical products which contain two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Safety concerns drove the Centre’s decision to ban the drugs, which also included other popular products such as steroid cream Panderm Plus.
Saridon will now be available freely after the top court revoked the order. . In September 2018,Piramal Enterprises (PEL) had been awarded a stay order from the Supreme Court on the ban, which allowed it to continue manufacturing, distribution and sale of the FDC, the company said.
The medicine – containing caffeine, paracetamol and propyphenazone – was one of the number of medicines banned by the Drug and Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) in July last year.
PEL welcomed the decision. “This exemption from the banned list of FDCs validates our intent to serve our customers with the highest levels of integrity,” the firm said in a statement.
“We are pleased with the Supreme Court ruling,” PEL’s executive director Nandini Piramal commented in the Economic Times. Piramal described the decision as “an affirmation to our commitment to provide effective and safe healthcare solutions that address unique needs of Indian consumers. We were confident that the law would prevail in our favour.”
