Medkart Pharmacy pushes transparency as drug quality alerts surge

Medkart Pharmacy is expanding its Medkart Assured program as India faces a sharp rise in substandard drug alerts, promising to publish what it tests, rejects and certifies. The move comes as regulators reported 1,879 Not of Standard Quality samples in 2025, more than double the 877 flagged in 2024.

Why it matters: - Rising quality alerts have put medicine safety and trust under sharper scrutiny in India. - Medkart Pharmacy is betting that greater transparency, not less access to generics, is the better answer for patients. - The company is positioning quality disclosure as a way to make affordability and safety less likely to be seen as a trade-off.

What happened: - Medkart Pharmacy says it is putting its Medkart Assured quality program at the center of a new transparency push. - The company plans to publish what it tests, what it rejects and how. - In 2025, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation reported 1,879 drug samples as Not of Standard Quality, more than double the 877 reported in 2024. - The regulator has tightened sampling and reporting rules after the spike in alerts. - Monthly alerts have covered antibiotics, cardiovascular drugs, anti-diabetic medicines, injectables, spurious batches and counterfeit batches.

The details: - Medkart says its procurement aligns with Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which sets Good Manufacturing Practice standards for pharmaceutical production. - The company independently audits partner manufacturing plants. - Every product goes through two rounds of testing at NABL-accredited third-party laboratories. - Products receive the Medkart Assured tag only after clearing those checks. - The tag is shown both in stores and online. - Medkart pharmacists are trained to explain quality differences and answer patient questions. - The company’s in-app comparison tool is designed to help patients compare options before buying. - Medkart plans to publish a Medkart Assured Quality & Transparency Report covering the volume of batches tested, the rejection rate, therapy areas covered and the testing protocol used. - Medkart frames that report as an invitation to scrutiny, not a claim of blind trust.

Between the lines: - A 2025 study in a peer-reviewed clinical pharmacology journal found that some patients remain skeptical of generic medicines, especially in oncology and cardiovascular care. - The study cited inconsistent communication and limited visibility into manufacturers as barriers to trust. - Medkart is using that trust gap to argue that pharmacy retailers should show more of the quality process, not just the final product. - The company is careful to present the move as a category standard, not a judgment on any specific manufacturer or competitor.

What's next: - Medkart says it will release the Quality & Transparency Report and make its testing data public. - The company is inviting outside scrutiny of its process and outcomes. - Medkart will continue to present Medkart Assured as a model for how pharmacy retailers can verify quality before dispensing generics.

The bottom line: - Medkart’s pitch is simple: if medicine quality is under a microscope, the response should be proof, not promises.