Indian firm sues local medicine distributor over counterfeits

Patients especially those living with HIV and Aids are at risk of ingesting drugs whose source and chemical composition is unknown, the High Court has heard.

An Indian drug manufacturer, Cipla Ltd, in a suit filed in court yesterday said the Kenyan public was in great danger due to the importation and sale of unauthorised medicine whose sources are unknown.

Cipla Ltd accused Kenyan medicine distributor, Lords Healthcare Ltd, of sourcing for drugs from unknown manufacturers, packaging and selling them using its trademark despite having terminated agency agreement with the company.

The court heard that the manufacturer had noted that some of its medicines are in the market despite having no local distributor.

Cipla, through lawyer John Syekei, told the court it has not authorised any person to use and exploit its drug registration certificates by importing and selling such medicines on the Kenyan market.

The company told the court that the flip side of this is that it does not know where the affected drugs are being manufactured, or even what the chemical composition of the affected products is.

Some of the medicines Cipla manufactures, the court heard, are anti-retroviral drugs.

Mr Syekei said his client had conducted investigations in Nairobi, Eldoret and Embu and found that about 30 different pharmacies and medicine wholesalers located in these towns were selling the counterfeit medicines.

"Cipla has discovered the existence of medicines in the Kenyan Market (the illegal products), which bear the same name as those on drug registration certificates issued by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board," he said.

 Blind eye

In the case filed under a certificate of urgency before High Court Judge Isaac Lenaola, the lawyer said Cipla had lodged a complaint about the drugs to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board but the regulator had not taken any action to halt the sale of the drugs.

"There is a clear and present danger to the Kenyan public in the importation and sale of unauthorised medicines whose sources are unknown. This is even more so where some of the medicines that the petitioner manufactures and holds certificate are anti-retroviral drugs for treatment of HIV and Aids," Syekei told Justice Lenaola.

He accused the board, which was named as the first respondent, of turning a blind eye to its complaints. "The board has failed to take any action to halt the illegal importation of the affected drugs and has failed to respond to the complaints by the petitioner," the court heard.

Cipla's EA Regional Manager James Bradford says Lords Ltd was selling 12 products that bear its trademark but had not been sourced from them.