27/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU bans 700 generic medicines tested in India. The European Union has called on its member states to ban, with effect from 21 August, the marketing of around 700 generic medicines tested and produced in India, French newspaper Le Monde reported on 27 July. The decision, taken on Thursday 16 July, follows on from irregularities discovered by the French medicines safety agency ANSM on one of the sites of GVK Bio, in the south of India. After it was alerted, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reviewed over 1,000 medicines tested by GVK. It concluded that, for some 700 the data were insufficient. As early as January, EMA has recommended the withdrawal of these medicines from the market. The medicines concerned are copies of others commonly available, including Advil (for pain relief), Seroplex (an anti-depressant), Aerius (an antihistamine) and Inexium (a gastric dressing). (LC)