By Mariyam F
Delhi police’s crime branch and Drug inspectors seized a spurious batch of ‘Abhayrab’ rabies vaccine from Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar locality in April 2026.
This event unfolds even after a 2025 request made by the vaccine’s manufacturer to the drug regulators to further investigate a substandard version of its anti-rabies vaccine.
In September 2025, the Abhayrab vaccine’s manufacturer, Indian Immunologicals Ltd. identified a counterfeit version of its vaccine circulating in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Lucknow, and Mumbai with the labelled batch number KA24014.
After the 2025 counterfeiting case, IIL had said in a statement that it had supplied more than 210 million doses of Abhayrab to Indian and global markets, describing it as “the most trusted brand in the country”, which holds about 40 per cent of the anti-rabies vaccine market.
Drug regulatory authorities in Australia, the UK, and the US had flagged the fake rabies vaccine and issued advisories between October and December 2025, alerting the public after the earlier counterfeit batch KA24014.
Rabies is a fatal disease and if not acted upon timely, the consequences can be heavy. Therefore, received rabies vaccinations in 2025 were advised to seek advice from healthcare professionals.
Post the series of events that happened last year, a similar event occurred this year in April, where another batch of the same Abhayrab rabies vaccine was seized in Delhi by the police.
MedBound Times had previously reported on the Australian advisory in December 2025, which warned travellers about the earlier counterfeit batch of the Abhayrab rabies vaccine linked to India.
Also read: Australian Advisory Flags Counterfeit Rabies Vaccine Linked to India
Delhi Police’s crime branch, along with drug inspectors, confiscated a batch of fake Abhayrab rabies vaccine in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar. The vaccine was bearing batch number KE25012, different from the one confiscated last year. Four people were identified and took under custody following the event.
Officials from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) were called at the site, and the seized vaccine was sent to Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) in Kasauli for testing. CDL tested the batch and found the vaccine didn’t meet the standard, labelling it as ‘misbranded’. The seized vials were not manufactured by Indian Immunologicals Ltd. (IIL), according to the company and regulatory findings.
The CDSCO received the CDL report three months after the samples were sent for testing, i.e., in August, an official familiar with the sequence of events stated.
In the results of the testing, the lab found 17 differences between the counterfeit vial and a sample of the genuine batch supplied by the vaccine manufacturer.
IIL said the genuine batch KE25012, comprising 83,370 vials, had been supplied only through its authorised distribution channels, distinguishing it from the misbranded vials seized from the unlicensed premises.
In less than 2 years, Abhayrab rabies vaccine has been under scrutiny twice, raising concerns over the handling and monitoring of these drugs.
Indian Immunologicals Ltd., the vaccine’s manufacturer, stated, “Vaccine(s) administered at a hospital, clinic, government facility or licensed pharmacy reaches the patient through authorized supply chain and is not affected by this matter” and further added in the statement that every batch of Abhayrab is dispatched only after thorough internal testing.
Omesh Bharti, a public health official in Himachal Pradesh, said, “Government as well as private hospitals procure the vaccines directly from the company’s authorised channels. It is unclear where or for whom the counterfeit vials were aimed.”
The Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) also released a statement saying it had arrested four people involved in the operation and is enforcing a “strict vigilance over the movement, distribution and availability” of this vaccine. On August 27, 2026, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) asked all state drug controllers to alert their inspectorate staff and maintain strict vigilance over the movement, distribution and availability of batch KE25012. It also mentioned that no vials from the batch number KE25012 had been exported to any other country.
However, CDSCO’s statement doesn’t elaborate on why there was a delay of three months in releasing the authenticity report of the batch that was confiscated and sent to CDL in April, but the results came only in August.
(Rh/MF/MSM)