IPL Over Fake Drugs

Why is Indian TV news silent over the Ranbaxy fraud? Is cricket more important to our editors than human lives?

WrittenBy:Kartik Malla
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Try this – go to news.google.com and search for – “ipl fixing”. You will get around 158,000 (or more, depending on when you tried this) results, comprising of the relentless and in-depth coverage from print, television and online media. Okay, that’s quite impressive. Now try searching for “ranbaxy fraud” in the same search box. You will get around 1,000 results – which includes reports mainly from the print media and specifically from their business and finance publications/bureau.

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So, why is the Ranbaxy fraud not getting similar, if not more persistent coverage as the IPL fixing saga? The implications of the Ranbaxy case are now crystal clear and extremely worrying. Financially, the company defrauded many millions of its paying consumers for many years by lying to them and selling them products that were substandard. Socially, and specifically in terms of public health, the implications are even worse, for shoddy and untested ingredients in your medicine will do you more harm at best, and irreparable harm at worst.

It has now been proven conclusively, astonishingly by Ranbaxy’s own admission, that it engaged in these illegal and abhorrent practices in a consistent and systematic manner, across a large portion of their portfolio of products, including some of their most popular products.

The question is, why have these revelations not prompted Arnab Goswami to interrogate the erstwhile CEO of Ranbaxy, Brian Tempest and the Chairman, Malvinder Singh, who were at the helm of this fraud when it was first discovered – and who continued to operate the company in a “business as usual” manner. Does that not signal complicity? Does that not at least warrant a few questions? How about some questions for the Ministry of Health? Surely, the “nation wants to know”? Ah, but the nation will only want to know, if it knows the extent of the crimes in the first place.

The coverage of the astounding Ranbaxy fraud has been largely limited to articles giving investment advice (Ranbaxy in FDA troubles, short Ranbaxy stock, buy Cipla) or moving, romantic accounts of Ranbaxy trying to emerge from the burdens of the past, much like some glorious phoenix. But what about that past? What about all those billions of pills prescribed in good faith by doctors, to unsuspecting and vulnerable patients in India and abroad? This is snake oil-selling of the worst kind, but its reporting in India has been strange. Katherine Eban, writing for Fortune details how the whistleblowers initially informed the management and board of directors of the horrifying situation –

Kumar had a PowerPoint presentation of 24 slides. It made clear that Ranbaxy had lied to regulators and falsified data in every country examined in the report. “More than 200 products in more than 40 countries” have “elements of data that were fabricated to support business needs”, the PowerPoint reported. “Business needs”, the report showed, was a euphemism for ways in which Ranbaxy could minimize cost, maximize profit, and dupe regulators into approving substandard drugs.

No market or type of drug was exempt, including antiretrovirals purchased by the U.S. and WHO as part of a program to fight HIV in Africa…In entire markets — including Brazil, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Peru, and the Dominican Republic — the company had simply not tested the drugs and had invented all the data. …In India and Latin America, the report noted the “non-availability” of validation methods, stability data, and bio-equivalence reports. In short, Ranbaxy had almost no method whatsoever for validating the content of the drugs in those markets.

In contrast, the Indian media, when it does delve into the actual details of the case, somehow paints a completely different picture of a “corporate controversy”, such as in this article by Sushumi Dey for Business Standard

The corporate controversy around Ranbaxy Laboratories doesn’t seem to have affected its standing among clients…Medical practitioners feel the issues around quality raised some years earlier had been rectified and aren’t a risk to health…Business Standard spoke to various chemists, druggists and distributors. They said they hadn’t seen any drop in prescription or sales of Ranbaxy drugs. “It is more of a corporate war. Nothing has changed in the trade. Patients continue to rely on doctor prescriptions and we have not come across any complaint or aberration in the sale of Ranbaxy-made medicines”, said Sandeep Nangia, president, Delhi Retailers and Distributors Chemist Association. He’s also a distributor of Ranbaxy medicines. A Mumbai-based chemist and member of the All India Organisation Of Chemists & Druggists said, “Sales of Ranbaxy medicines are normal. The issues were in the past and we believe the new management has taken all corrective measures to ensure quality”. Doctors and medical practitioners believe so, too. Some even say issues highlighted are in the US and nothing of that nature had come to notice in India…the medicines manufactured by domestic companies were far cheaper than those by multinationals and unless there was solid proof, one should not boycott these

The assertions made in the above article are easily challenged. When Ranbaxy pleads guilty in the US to 7 federal criminal counts, including selling adulterated drugs with intent to defraud, failing to report that its drugs didn’t meet specifications, and making intentionally false statements to the government, it should no longer be considered a mere “corporate controversy” (which is what you could term Pepsi making fun of Thumbs-Up in an advertisement as) – but should be considered as criminal intent. The issues may have been highlighted in the US (possibly because someone in their government actually cares about the health of its citizens), but as insider details indicate, Ranbaxy manufacturing plants and machinery did not differentiate (and automatically change their substandard raw materials and established malpractices to ensure correct drug composition for India-bound consignments) between drugs sold in India or abroad. Finally, if a company’s own admission of guilt is not proof of their wrongdoing, one wonders what these “some would say”/unnamed people consider proof?

However, the point is not to lambast the few articles defending Ranbaxy’s position. Ranbaxy, like many others, has the right to hire a PR agency. Their agency would have done some roaring business a few years ago when the times were good (i.e back when the FDA were still quietly collecting evidence and wrapping their heads around these shenanigans). One would read happy stories of Ranbaxy’s scintillating growth, heady profits and cutting edge management, all fitting nicely with the ‘India Shining’ narrative. When the Singh brothers sold their entire stake to Daichii, there were some surprises (who sells a cash cow?). It was quickly spun from a suspicious move (is the cow giving out phata hua doodh?) to an ingenious masterstroke from the Singh brothers who, after hobnobbing with biggest in global pharma, would now focus on healthcare and bestow upon it the same glories (god forbid). Why is the mainstream media so reliant on PR handouts? Is the world of business really that confusing, forever consigned and confined to the pink pages? Is it not a scam unless the CAG gives us a big number? Can we not pick up a story even when the international media nicely packages it for us? Where is the authentic media scrutiny, especially in television media, over what has been proved as one of the most disturbing and shocking truths to emerge from the Indian pharmaceutical sector? Have the journalists of this country turned into Ranbaxy-negative-ignoring zombies, from all those fake pills that they have been consuming to sustain their tiring schedules (maybe Go Goa Gone was allegorical after all)?

Mr Rajdeep Sardesai, it certainly is love’s labour lost (yours and mine, at the very least) when a cricketer besmirches our beloved game by breaking our trust, but how does that compare to India’s largest drug manufacturer breaking our trust? The former, is something you (and I) have always suspected, and each time fresh evidence comes along something inside you “dies”. Sure. But what happens when there is unexpected evidence of the latter? Would you (I certainly would) suspect that someone (and not just a hypothetical part of their inner being) might die? Far more people are touched directly by the low-cost medicines manufactured by Ranbaxy, than by a 7-week cricket tournament.

Television news is a game-changer when it comes to public knowledge of issues. The fact is that, at this point, the common person simply does not know enough about the Ranbaxy case. I understand the need for populist stories such as the IPL, as it leads to TRPs and derivative inane drama such as that child inside the courtroom asking Sreesanth, “kya yaar, kyu kiya fixing?”. However, as a larger population of people becomes aware of the severity and extent of the Ranbaxy fraud, we may hear anecdotes more chilling than a kid asking rhetorical questions. As one of the whistleblowers of the case recounts his own experience in the Fortune article –

The previous year in India, [his] boy had developed a serious ear infection. A paediatrician prescribed Ranbaxy’s version of amoxiclav, a powerful antibiotic. For three scary days, his son’s 102° fever persisted, despite the medicine. Finally, the pediatrician changed the prescription to the brand-name antibiotic…within a day, his fever disappeared. Thakur hadn’t thought about it much before. Now he took the boy in his arms and resolved not to give his family any more Ranbaxy drugs until he knew the truth.

It is distressing that it has come to this, but in these times of abundance, I feel we must prioritise our focus on corruption stories – with greater emphasis on stories where it hurts the most.

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