India to join global scheme to improve quality of drugs

Scheme will help MSMEs to adopt global manufacturing standards and give market access

- Ravi Dutta Mishra 

India is set to join an international regime that fosters cooperation between countries and regulatory authorities in good manufacturing practices (GMP) in order to improve the quality of their medical products, a government official aware of the development said.

The move to join the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) was triggered by the deaths of 66 children in Gambia that were linked to toxic Indian-made cough syrups. A second factor was market access problems faced by Indian medical products in quality-conscious UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council.

"We will have to prepare the Indian industry, especially micro, small and medium enterprise, for PIC/S that would entail adopting global standards by adopting good manufacturing practices.

The decision will not only help avert Gambia-like tragedies, but also help gain market access in advanced markets," the official quoted above stated.