IN NEW DELHI: Private investigator Suresh Sati rattled off the popular brand names listed on the boxes of cough syrup, supplements, vitamins and painkillers sprawled across the desk and shelves in his basement office.

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday upheld the detention of 13 people under the Goondas Act in connection with the alleged spurious drugs case.

Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and D Hari Paranthaman, who dismissed all petitions on the habeas corpus petitions challenging the detention, said: "The acts alleged to have been indulged in by the detenus and other accused are shocking, posing danger to the public health and therefore, the interest of the state would definitely prevail over the individual liberty claimed by the detenus."

While the U.S. drug supply supply is still the safest in the world, ASHP advises consumers to be particularly vigilant about their medications given the recent rise in counterfeiting. ASHP recommends that consumers follow a few simple safety tips when taking medication:

What’s worse, the transition from occasional use to abuse tends to happen more quickly in women than in men for several reasons.

ISMP’s List of Confused Drug Names Listed below are drug names (first column) that have sometimes been confused with other drug names (second column). Many of these were actual mix-ups that led to patients receiving the wrong drug. All of these names were contained in reports sent by health professionals and consumers to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ Medication Errors Reporting Program.

Checklist for Medicine Safety & spurious
This checklist will help you judge whether your medications are safe and provide tips on what to do if you think a drug has been compromised.

Purchase: Always purchase the drugs from a reputed Pharmacy. Make a habit to patronise your pharmacy for all drug purchases. Ensure that you take a bill with the batch number written on the bill. This batch number should tally or correspond to the batch number given on your vial or the strip of the drug you have purchased.