India, US To Collaborate To Upgrade Pharmaceutical Quality To Global Standards: US official

New Delhi, Aug 19 (KNN) India and the US will work together to improve the quality standards of the domestic pharmaceutical industry so that Indian medicines are “accepted everywhere in the world”, Xavier Becerra, the Secretary of Health and Human Services said on Friday.

During the G20 Health Ministers’ meeting in Gandhinagar said, “We want to make sure that India continues to be a good partner in the exchange of pharmaceuticals and the growth of pharmaceutical products. This requires Indian companies to meet the US standards if they wish to export to us.”

“But at the same time, there is a growing desire in India to make sure that their industry continues to grow. So one of the things that India would like to see from the US is deeper cooperation in standards that make it possible to have an industry that will thrive because it will be accepted everywhere in the world,” he said.

Becerra informed that during his meeting with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, the two sides discussed ways to collaborate on the safety and availability of medicines. 

The US Secretary said the FDA commissioner would be in India shortly as the chief negotiator to take forward the discussion on such a partnership.

“We have a very strong and dependent relationship with India when it comes to pharmaceuticals. We depend on India, India depends on us and together we can both thrive when it comes to making sure medicines are available not just to our people but to the world,” he said.

Earlier this year, an India-made drop was found to be the culprit behind a deadly bacterial outbreak in the USA.

Following the concerns, the Union Health Ministry raided some of the production units, shut down a few, and asked the small and medium players to implement the global-standard quality parameters in a time bound manner.  (KNN Bureau)