Centre plans to set up self-regulatory body for pharma industry: Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

New Delhi, June 24 (KNN) Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday informed that the government is planning to set up a self-regulatory body for the pharmaceutical industry. 

Speaking at the eighth Quality Forum organised by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Health Minister said, “India has a zero-tolerance policy for any sort of quality compromise.” 

He informed that a joint squad of regulators from both the state and Centre had been formed for inspections of plants.

As per reports, the government has already inspected 150 plants, of which over 70 had been issued show-cause notices and 18 issued closure notices. The regulatory authorities have started risk-based audits of plants.

“If any company’s products have a history of failure, then we are auditing these sites. If someone needs handholding, the industry at the regional level should help to improve quality. However, if anyone is callous about quality, they have no right to operate,” Mandaviya said. 

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, the minister highlighted that upon receiving complaints from certain regulatory authorities, India had tested samples of alleged contaminated cough-syrups. 

“We tried to do a root-cause analysis, and found that one child had diarrhea. Also, not all the samples of the 23 tested were found to be contaminated. This is strange, as if there is a batch failure, all samples from that batch should fail the test,” he said, alluding to the Gambia incident where more than 40 children died after allegedly consuming India-manufactured syrups.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a palpable shift in the way every country or continent is trying to secure its supplies of medicines, Mandaviya said.

“We have supplied pharmaceutical products to 150 countries during the pandemic, and vaccines to around 100 countries. Not a single country has complained of substandard quality,” he said, adding that now countries were looking for Indian pharma companies who can set up manufacturing capacities in their area.

To boost local manufacturing, the minister said it was now time to think of innovative models of partnership between the industry and government.  (KNN Bureau)