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Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) GN Singh today said a massive survey involving the testing of 42,000 drug samples had been taken up to establish the quality of Indian drugs and the exercise would be completed in the next six to eight months.
“After about six months, we will actually know and tell the world that our drugs are of quality. This will also help negate misnomers as various numbers are being circulated about the percentage of spurious or low quality drugs,” he said on the sidelines of a workshop being organised on quality of drugs by the US Pharmacopoeia (USP) at its facility here.
Singh said a web-based alert feature would also be added to the drug regulator’s site to enable any agency or individual across the globe to report about the spurious drugs.
The DCGI is also strengthening the manpower and other facilities to match with the task at hand. “We will be recruiting about 200 drug inspectors and assistant inspectors in the next two months to strengthen our testing capabilities,” he said.
At present, the enforcement wing of DCGI has 350 employees. These staff will be given mobile drug-testing labs. At least 20 mobile drug-testing laboratories will be deployed in states like Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to him.“Borders are porous for poor quality medicines, which present a real threat to public health. Communications across regions and a cooperative response are imperative,” said Kelly Willis, senior vice-president (global public health) of US Pharmacopoeia.
