2012 Pakistan fake medicine crisis

During late January 2012, a fake medicine crisis at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) hospital in the Lahore region of Punjab, Pakistan, claimed the lives of over 100 heart patients. According to various reports, the incident involved patients who had been receiving treatment at the hospital and had been prescribed with counterfeit antihypertensive medicines. The spurious medicine(s) triggered a serious adverse reaction by depositing itself in the bone marrow and ending the body's resistance. The generation of white blood cells stopped in the body. Among the symptoms of the disease were a severe chest infection, change in skin colour/pigmentation, low platelet count and blood vomiting.

Suspect drugs include isotab (isosorbide nitrate), lipitor (atorvastatin calcium), cardiovestin (simvastatin), alfagril (clopidogrel), concort (amlodipine), and soloprin (aspirin).

The medicines were being distributed by the hospital free of charge mainly to poor people. The total number of people who may be at risk after taking medicine from the hospital may be as high as 46,000 according to one report.

In mid-January 2012, several cardiac patients registered with the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) started showing up at different public and private hospitals in Lahore suffering from a sudden drop in platelets and white blood cells and bleeding from different parts of the body. The doctors initially took the symptoms as that of dengue outbreak that had hit the city in the last Fall. However, it was soon realized that the symptoms were seen in a PIC cohort and were more consistent of a drug reaction. As a result, the Department of Health constituted a high-powered committee to probe the incident.

Almost all victims were from the Lahore area. One fatality was also recorded in Multan. The Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif vowed "stern action" against those responsible and announced a compensation of Rs. 500,000 each for the victims' families. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) formed an investigation team to probe the incident on the orders of Minister for Interior Rehman Malik. The team arrested some people reportedly involved in the distribution of the medicine. Cases were also registered against three pharmaceutical companies who made the medicine.

...
Wikipedia