The report confirmed that laboratory tests conducted by Nepal Pharmaceuticals Limited found no 'clinical' differences in the effectiveness and physical quality of heart disease and diabetes medications.
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It has been confirmed that there is no difference in the quality of medicines available through health insurance and those sold in private pharmacies.
A comparative quality analysis conducted by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in coordination with the National Vigilance Center has shown that the medicines available through both channels are of equal quality and comply with the approved standards.
The report has confirmed that there is no ‘clinical’ difference in the effectiveness and physical quality of heart disease and diabetes medicines from laboratory tests conducted by Nepal Drug Limited. According to Prakriti Dhakal, personal undersecretary to Prime Minister Balendra Shah, the most popular medicines in the market were collected and sent for testing without disguising the identity of their manufacturing company and source (insurance or private).
Samples of ‘Amlodipine 5 MG’, which is widely used in high blood pressure and heart disease, and ‘Metformin HCL 500 MG’, which is used by diabetic patients, were tested.
The potency of the drug in both the market pharmacy and health insurance samples of the high blood pressure drug amlodipine has been found to be within the percentage standards . Similarly, both samples have been found to be excellent in terms of content uniformity and dissolution of the drug .
The ‘sustained release matrix’ (the process of slowly dissolving the drug in the body) of metformin, which is used in the treatment of diabetes, has been found to operate equally effectively in both drugs .
The various stages of the drug dissolution process in the body have been shown to be almost simultaneous and similar in both samples at one hour, three hours and 10 hours . Due to this, the report states that there is no clinical difference in the work that both drugs do in the body and their effectiveness . According to Hina Shrestha, Quality Assurance In-charge of Nepal Drug Limited, this analysis was carried out by following the international protocol of lab testing and the standards of Pharmacopoeia (the official guide to drugs).
The medicines were tested using state-of-the-art equipment, following the limits, chemical quantities and specific methods set by the Pharmacopoeia. In all those tests, the medicines from both sides were found to be completely safe, potent and of equal quality within the specified standards, it is said that this report scientifically proves the high standard of the insurance medicines.
'The Prime Minister's Office has initiated this special investigation process after receiving complaints that the health insurance medicines are inferior and do not work,' said Dhakal, Personal Under-Secretary to Prime Minister Shah. The secretariat has urged the public not to be suspicious of the insurance medicines and not to be confused as the tests, which were conducted while keeping the company's brand and name confidential to maintain the impartiality of the investigation, did not show any difference between the insurance and private market medicines.
