Torrent Pharma Refutes Claims Of Its Vitamin D Supplement Failing Drug Quality Test

Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. on Thursday disputed the claim that Shelcal 500, a vitamin D and calcium supplement sold by the company, has failed a quality test conducted by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.

The drugmaker said the sample of Shelcal 500 that was collected for analysis by CDSCO was "non-genuine and spurious."

"As anti-counterfeit measures, Torrent has implemented QR codes on Shelcal, displaying batch manufacturing details to verify its authenticity, which was found to be lacking in the sample seized by CDSCO," a release said.

According to reports, a Kolkata-based testing lab of CDSCO seized a batch of Shelcal 500 that failed the quality test. Torrent said it has already shared an assessment report with the drug regulator, which shows that the seized sample was spurious.

"To verify the genuineness of the sample collected by CDSCO, a comparative evaluation was carried out with our controlled sample of the same batch. The outcome of the analysis concluded that the sample seized by CDSCO is not manufactured by Torrent," it claimed.

CDSCO, which is India's apex drug regulator, flagged 53 drug samples for failing to meet quality standards in its August 2024 report. Pantocid, Paracetamol tablets, and Calcium and Vitamin D tablets are among the widely-used medications that are part of the list of drugs identified by the regulator for quality lapse.

This incident follows an earlier ban by the Indian government on 156 fixed-dose combination drugs, which included commonly used antibiotics, painkillers, and multivitamins, due to safety concerns.

Shares of Torrent closed 0.46% lower at Rs 3,412.3 apiece on the NSE, compared to a 0.81% climb in the benchmark Nifty 50. The stock has gained 48% year-to-date.

Of the 34 analysts tracking the company, 23 have a 'buy' rating on the stock, seven suggest a 'hold', and four recommend a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analysts' price targets implies a potential downside of 3.4%.