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CDSCO reports highest number of NSQs in 2025 in October
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Gireesh Babu, New Delhi
November 24 , 2025
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Even as almost 14 states and five Union Territories (UTs) did not submit the Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) drug samples data, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has reported the highest number of NSQs during the month of October, 2025.
The total number of 211 samples declared as NSQs during the month is the highest in the last 10 months of 2025. During the month of October, States also reported the highest number of NSQs at 148 drug samples, which is around 70% of the total number of NSQs listed out by the CDSCO during the month.
The increased participation from the States is expected to be an indication of better drug monitoring and action against NSQs across the country.
In January, states labs reported 93 out of the total 145 NSQs reported by CDSCO, in February 56 out of 103 NSQs, in March, 61 out of 131 NSQs, in April, 121 out of 196 NSQs, in May 130 out of 188 NSQ samples, in June 103 out of 184 NSQs, in July 97 out of 143 NSQs, in August 60 out of 94 NSQs, and in September 60 out of 112 NSQs, according to data from the CDSCO.
During the month of October, state lab in Karnataka reported around 30 drug samples it tested as NSQs, followed by Tamil Nadu with 19 samples including an adulterated sample of Coldrif cough syrup from Kancheepuram-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals, which has faced action recently in connection with contaminated cough syrups.
Punjab reported around 16 NSQs, followed by Rajasthan (15), Bihar (14) and Kerala (12) among others during the month of October, 2025
During the month, routine NSQ lists from 14 States including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh and five Union Territories including Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli; Daman & Diu, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep are pending, said CDSCO.
While it has also included the States of Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Meghalaya in the pending list, the detailed list has NSQs reported from these states during the month of October.
Some of the drug samples tested as NSQ from the state and central labs include a sample of paracetamol tablets iP 500 mg from public sector undertaking Bengal Chemicals And Pharmaceuticals, dexamethasone sodium phosphate injection IP (Dexona) from Zydus Healthcare, amoxicillin and potassium clavulanate tablet I.P. (Clavam-625) from Alkem Health Science, amlodipine besylate tablets IP 5 mg (Amlogen-5) from Alkem Laboratories, liposomal amphotericin B injection 50 mg (Gufisome) from Gufic Biosciences, and Kaamaraj capsules from Brahmanand Ayurveda (OPC) Pvt. Ltd, Punjab (for suspected content of sildenafil and tadalafil), among others.
As reported earlier, the reporting of NSQ results from the routine drug sample tests by the drug regulators of states and UTs across the country to the CDSCO has seen a significant jump in the recent months.
The NSQs reported by the states and UTs in the first ten months of this year is a total of 929, as compared to a total of 339 NSQs reported during the 12 months of the year 2024, according to data.
The NSQs reported by the states and UTs to the CDSCO in 2019 was a meagre 125, which has grown almost three -fold to 339 in the year 2024. The NSQs reported by the states and UTs in 2020 was a total of 140, which went down to 114 in 2021, grew to 228 in 2022, and again went down to 189 in 2023 before growing to 339 in 2024.
"Identification of drug samples as NSQ is done based on failure of the drug sample in one or the other specified quality parameters. The failure is specific to the drug products of the batch tested by the government laboratory and it does not warrant any concerns on the other drug products available in the market," said the authority while releasing the list for the month of October, 2025.
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