The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Thiruvananthapuram, has blacklisted the pharmaceutical firm Globela Pharma after discovering that Temozolomide—a medicine used to treat brain cancer—was delivered in boxes labelled for Etoposide, a drug intended for lung cancer.
Rumours had circulated that patients were administered the wrong medicine because of this packaging mishap.
However, the RCC clarified on Thursday that the distribution of Temozolomide was immediately halted once the error was detected in the first batch itself, and no patient had received the incorrect drug.
According to the purchase and tender procedures of the Regional Cancer Centre for 2024–25, Globela Pharma had been awarded the contract to supply Temozolomide 250mg, 100mg, and 20mg to the RCC. The confusion arose in a batch of 92 packets of Temozolomide 100mg (Batch no. GSC24056) delivered to the RCC on March 25.
“Every time a batch of medicine is received, the batch number and related documents are thoroughly verified before stock entry,” said Dr R. Rejanish Kumar, Director, RCC.
According to the RCC director, since some stock from previous supplies was still available, the new batch was brought to the pharmacy for patient distribution only on June 27, 2025.
As per the SOP in the hospital, pharmacy staff dispense medicines to patients only after verifying the stock. During the distribution process on July 12, while taking the first set of ten packets from the problematic batch, the staff noticed that two packets were labelled 'Etoposide 50mg'.
They immediately opened and checked those packets, finding that the bottles inside were labelled 'Temozolomide 100mg'. Due to this confusion, the distribution of Temozolomide was immediately halted, and the supplier company was promptly informed, according to the RCC.
In the aftermath, the RCC Drug Committee met on July 30 and decided to inform the Drugs Controller of Kerala. It was also decided that no further supplies or new contracts would be made with Globela Pharma Pvt Ltd for cancer medicines.
Nevertheless, it was only on October 6 that officials representing the Drugs Controller of Kerala visited the hospital and seized all the suspect packets.
Drugs Controller Dr Sujith Kumar told THE WEEK that a case had been registered under Section 17B of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which deals with the issue of misbranded drugs.
The issue was brought to the attention of the Drugs Controller only in late September, raising questions about why the RCC took so long to report the matter. The Drugs Controller subsequently filed a report before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Thiruvananthapuram, on October 8.
THE WEEK also attempted to contact a Globela Pharma spokesperson for comment and, at the company’s request, sent an email with detailed queries.
The company has not yet responded to the allegations regarding the mishap, which could have caused serious harm to patients if it had not been identified on time.