Biocon bribery case: CBI files charge sheet

India

pti-PTI

New
Delhi,
Aug
25:
The
CBI
has
filed
a
charge
sheet
in
an
alleged
bribery
case
in
which
a
senior
official
of
the
Central
Drugs
Standard
Control
Organisation(CDSCO)
and
a
Biocon
Biologics
executive
were
arrested
in
June
this
year,
officials
said
It
is
alleged
that
the
bribe
payment
of
Rs
nine
lakh
to
Joint
Drug
Controller
S
Eswara
Reddy
was
cleared
by
the
associate
vice
president
of
Biocon
Biologics
L
Praveen
Kumar,
they
said.
The
bribe
was
allegedly
for
favourably
recommending
the
file
of
Insulin
Aspart
Injection
to
the
Subject
Expert
Committee
(SEC)
meeting
on
May
18
for
waiving
the
phase
3
clinical
trial,
they
said.

The
agency
had
filed
a
charge
sheet
on
August
18,
they
said.
In
a
coordinated
operation,
the
CBI
had
arrested
Reddy,
Kumar,
Dinesh
Dua,
director
at
Synergy
Network
India
Private
Limited,
who
allegedly
gave
the
bribe
to
Reddy,
Guljit
Sethi,
an
alleged
conduit
of
Biocon
Biologics,
as
well
as
assistant
drug
inspector
Animesh
Kumar
in
the
case.
Biocon
Biologics,
a
subsidiary
of
Kiran
Mazumdar
Shaw-led
Biocon,
however,
had
denied
the
allegations
of
bribery.

“We
deny
the
bribery
allegations
made
in
certain
media
stories.
All
our
product
approvals
are
legitimate
and
backed
by
science
and
clinical
data.
Our
bAspart
is
approved
in
Europe
and
many
other
countries”,
the
spokesperson
had
said.
“We
follow
the
due
regulatory
process
for
all
our
product
approvals
by
DCGI
(Drugs
Controller
General
of
India).
The
entire
application
process
in
India
is
online
and
all
meeting
minutes
are
in
the
public
domain.
We
are
cooperating
with
the
investigation
agency,”
the
spokesperson
had
said.