The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday arrested Joint Drugs Controller S Eswara Reddy for accepting a bribe of Rs Rs 4 lakh to clear phase three trial of ‘Insulin Aspart’, an underdevelopment diabetes drug. The Insulin Aspart is a product of Biocon Biologics under development to manage Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
According to the reports, the bribe money was paid by Dinesh Dua, Director of Synergy Network India Pvt Ltd on behalf of Biocon Biologics, a company founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Joint Drug Controller posted at the CDSCO headquarters in New Delhi, Dr Eswara Reddy was bribed to get regulatory clearance for an insulin injection manufactured by Biocon Biologics Ltd. The Police also arrested Director Dinesh Dua in the case.
The CBI was informed about the bribe case through a complaint that sought legal action against the meddled approval of the drug clinical trial. The CBI officials then launched a trap operation to catch middleman Dua who was giving bribes on behalf of Biocon Biologicals and Dr S Eswara Reddy red-handed. However, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her company Biocon Biologics have denied the charges.
Biocon Biologics denies allegations of graft
“We deny the bribery allegations made in certain media stories. All our product approvals are legitimate and backed by science and clinical data. We follow the due regulatory process for all our product approvals by DCGI. We are co-operating with the investigation agency”, the company spokesperson tweeted.
Along with Reddy and Dua, the CBI officials also have charged Associate Vice President and Head-National Regulatory Affairs (NRA), Biocon Biologics Limited, Bangalore, L Praveen Kumar, as well as Director, Bioinnovat Research Services Private Limited, Delhi, Guljit Sethi in the case under the relevant sections of IPC.