Indian Pharma's future success depends on stringent quality control measures

Spurious drugs have become a serious issue worldwide, especially in India. According to USTR estimates nearly 20 percent of the drugs sold in India are counterfeit. Learn the steps that India must take to battle this menace and thus protect its image in the global pharmaceutical market

- MS. ARUSHI JAIN

India has always been in the eye of the storm when it comes to the country's mounting spurious medicine problem. Even the US Trade Representative (USTR) has scrutinized Indian pharmaceutical companies over this issue since according to its report, approximately 20 percent of all drugs on sale in our market are counterfeit. And this is the kind of study that can adversely affect India's budding market and reputation, even as it ranks third in the world in terms of volume. India fulfills over 20 percent of the global demand for generic drugs, which is no surprise because we have over 10,500 manufacturing units and 3,000 firms across the country.

But the fact remains that if the industry does not invest correctly in the short term, India may fall behind in the race due to a sheer lack of quality products. To regain our status in the world pharma rankings, the Indian industry will have to take certain measures such as encouraging innovation through augmented spending on R&D, making marketing companies also accountable for product quality, and implementing more stringent quality control (QC).

Following are some more factors implementing which can directly result in improving the quality of Indian drugs and ensuring they are of the best quality going forward:

API quality check