US to help Indian drugs meet FDA standards

The United States has assured visiting Health and Family Welfare Minister Ambumani Ramadoss that it would give every help needed to enable Indian drugs to reach it's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, which are a must for them to be sold in that country.

The assurance was given by Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt and acting FDA Commissioner Lester M Crawford, Ramadoss told reporters yesterday.

"FDA has promised to help set American standards in a host of fields, including the drug industry, cosmetics, medical equipment, medical diagnostifcs and so on", the minister said.

"India is going to have a separate National Drug Authority", he said, giving his reasons for meeting the FDA chief.

Ramadoss said the authority would be "independent like the Telecom Authority, regulating the industry to make it more quality-oriented", adding that India had the fourth-largest pharmaceutical industry in the world.

"The Government of India is also taking special steps to develop Ayurvedic and other indigenous medicines and testing them according to international testing methods so that eventually they could capture a trillion dollar market abroad", the Minister said.

He pointed out that the US National Institute of Health had 80 ongoing projects in India.

Ramadoss will next go to Atlanta for meetings at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and will also visit California Stem Cell Research Center and meet Nobel Laureate Michael Bishop.