Hetero Drugs has withdrawn all six of its antiretroviral drugs from the WHO’s list of approved drugs following concerns about their laboratory tests, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. It was the third time since June that an Indian company has removed anti-AIDS drugs following WHO inspections which revealed faulty bioequivalence tests meant to show the drugs have the same effect as name brands. There are still some 48 antiretrovirals on WHO’s list of so-called “prequalified” life-extending generic drugs, a key weapon in the international fight against the global epidemic. “All six drugs on WHO’s prequalified list have been withdrawn by them (Hetero),” WHO spokesman Iain Simpson said.
