KARACHI, Oct 24: A drug called Vioxx, which was banned globally some 15 days ago, is still available in medical stores in Pakistan, according to a survey carried out by a consumer interest group.

At a press briefing on Saturday, the office-bearers of the group called for a total ban on the sale and purchase of Vioxx. They claimed that about six months' stock of the contraband product was in the distribution systems of the company which produced it.

Very few of the Pakistani doctors interviewed during the group's survey knew that the medicine had been banned worldwide, they added. Moreover, the companies which owned the brands that incorporated Vioxx's generic drug were yet to announce the withdrawal of their products.

Ayyaz Kiani, a founder office-bearer of the group known as The Network for Consumer Protection, told Dawn after the briefing that there were several classes of drugs which were unnecessarily being prescribed in the country. "Most of these drugs have hazardous side-effects but hardly a scientifically-proven benefit," said Mr Kiani.

He was of the opinion that these drugs were being prescribed superfluously. "The groups of pain killers, brain and liver tonics, appetite stimulants and anti-sposmotics fall into this category of superfluous medicines."

Mr Kiani said some pain killers could actually contribute to the depletion of bone marrow, leading to the onset of blood cancer. The tonics, on the other hand, were of little value scientifically but were recommended quite frequently.

"Similar is the case with the so-called 'appetite stimulants'." He added that anti-sposmotic drugs often took away the pain but the main cause of the problem was not attacked.

"For instance, you have appendicitis and a doctor gives you an anti-sposmotic medicine. This drug will reduce the pain but not treat the appendix, which may burst open anytime."

Meanwhile, the office-bearers of the group pointed out that Vioxx had been banned globally after some 27,000 users had suffered heart attack or sudden cardiac deaths in the United States alone. It was on the American market for five years, from 1999 to mid-2004.

They demanded that the manufacturers of the dubious product withdraw its stock immediately and destroy the same as per the WHO guidelines. "Any delay will have fatal effects on the undiscerning users and responsibility for such an outcome will lie entirely on the shoulders of the makers, retailers, doctors and health ministry officials who fail to come to the aid of the masses."