KARACHI – The Sindh Drug Testing Laboratory has declared nine drugs used to treat cancer as fake, substandard and illegal.

Sindh Drug Testing Laboratory Director Syed Adnan Rizvi said that the action has been started after the results of the laboratory.

Rizvi revealed that some of the cancer drugs did not have the required active pharmaceutical ingredient, while others did not have a Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) registration number.

He further alleged that some oncologists write the names of certain pharmacies on their prescriptions, leaving patients with no choice but to buy medicines from these shops.

Rizvi warned that fake and substandard cancer drugs pose a serious threat to the lives of patients. He said that fake cancer drugs can make treatment ineffective and increase the risk of disease progression.