India bans two drugs behind opioid crisis in West Africa

The moves come after a BBC investigation found a firm had been illegally exporting the drugs.

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In a letter seen by the BBC from India's Drugs Controller General, Dr Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi said permission to manufacture and export the drugs had been withdrawn

BBC Eye found one pharmaceutical company, Aveo, had been illegally exporting a harmful mix of tapentadol and carisoprodol in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D'Ivoire.

India's Food and Drug Administration said the company's factory in Mumbai had since been raided and its entire stock seized.

The circular from Dr Raghuvanshi, dated to Friday, cited the BBC investigation in his decision to ban all combinations of tapentadol and carisoprodol, which was to be implemented with immediate effect.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx2vwg8gq1o

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