our bureau new delhi indias largest drug retailer apollo pharmacy said on friday that it is reviewing the quality of medicines produced by ranbaxy but it hasnt suspended their sales while other leading pharmacies such as guardian and the national chemists body said they will continue to sell the fraudhit firms drugs till there is an advisory on their safety by the government we havent suspended the drugs per se but our medical oversight committee has asked for fda and good manufacturing practices gmp certificate for medicines that we dispense we have faith in ranbaxy and daiichi standards the issue will be resolved shortly shobana kamineni executive director in charge of special initiatives at apollo hospitals enterprise limited told et however in an ambiguous public statement issued hours later we have been working closely with ranbaxy over the past week to verify all necessary certifications of their drugs a cautionary advisory was issued based on concerns raised by the medical oversight committee the matter is in the process of being resolved as ranbaxy continues to provide the necessary paperwork when asked about the contents of the cautionary advisory referred to in the statement an apollo spokesperson it was with respect to the verification of the fda and gmp certificates of drugs from ranbaxy all gmp and necessary certificates are in place to sell ranbaxy products in india we continue to supply products to apollo pharmacy said a ranbaxy spokesperson other pharmacy chains and drug wholesalers and retailers told et that they would stop selling ranbaxy drugs only when an advisory against the quality of its drugs is issued by the drug regulator or the health ministry all india organization of chemists druggists a network of lakhs of drug retailers and wholesalers said it would take action on the issue only when the drug regulator central or state asks them to technically it is the drug regulator who is the authority on quality of medicines in the country we would wait for a direction from the drug regulator before taking any action on ranbaxy drugs said j s shinde president of aiocd he however added that he had sought details of its us regulatory problems from ranbaxy which the company had provided guardian pharmacy also said that it would wait for an official advisory before considering any curbs in the sales of ranbaxy drugs i see absolutely no reason to suspend the sale of ranbaxy drugs we have got no customer complaints no such feedback from any stakeholders on the quality of drugs we are very comfortable selling this companys drugs said ashutosh garg chairman of guardian pharmacy but garg added that his chain would follow directions if the health ministry of the drug regulator advises against the quality of ranbaxy drugspune the food and drug administration fda officials have cancelled licences of as many as 517 chemists in pune division between january and april for violations including operating without a pharmacist poor record keeping of sale bills dispensing medicines