Falsified Avastin said to have blinded patients in Pakistan

Dozens of people in Pakistan have lost their sight after being injected with what is suspected to be a falsified version of Roche’s Avastin medicine.

The patients in Punjab province – numbered at 68 according to local media reports – were being treated off-label with Avastin (bevacizumab) for diabetic retinopathy, a sight-robbing complication of diabetes, using product supplied by distributor Genius Advanced Pharmaceutical Services.

The government has since imposed a temporary ban on the sales and distribution of the drug while quality checks are carried out, and two people linked to Genius have been identified and charged, but are on the run.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) said in a statement that there had been cases of “loss of vision in diabetic patients have been reported following treatment with Altered/Dispensed/Diluted Avastin injection.”

There have been numerous reports over more than a decade of counterfeit versions of the VEGF-targeting antibody – which is licensed to treat various forms of cancer – being discovered in medicine supply chains around the world, including in the US and Europe.

Analysis of seized samples has revealed that the vials generally contain no active ingredient and are not sterile, meaning that injection into the eye – as occurs with treatment for diabetic retinopathy – could lead to serious infections.

Back in 2010, there was an outbreak of endophthalmitis in Shanghai, China, following the injection of fake Avastin into the eyes of patients with retinal diseases.

In this case, Genius is suspected of repacking and dispensing Avastin injection under unhygienic or non-sterile conditions, and it is not clear yet whether the products itself is genuine or counterfeit.

Photo by David Underland on Unsplash