Pharmaceutical companies on the radar of the government, 68% of the medicines are not being made of right quality.
India is called the pharmacy of the world, because medicines are supplied to the whole world from here. In India, where big pharmaceutical companies manufacture branded medicines. Whereas the pharmaceutical companies of MSME sector mainly manufacture generic medicines which are in great demand in the country and abroad. Therefore, the government has now become very conscious about the quality of medicines of these companies.
Recently, Gambia had blamed cough syrup made in India for the deaths of children there. Keeping this in mind, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) along with state level drug inspectors inspected pharmaceutical companies across the country. So that the companies manufacturing poor quality medicines in the country can be identified.
Medicines of 68% companies are of poor quality
According to ET news, out of all the firms in the Micro, Small and Medium (MSME) sector that were inspected during this campaign, the medicines of about 68% of the companies were found not to be of ‘standard quality’. This inspection was ongoing since December last year. Sources informed that out of all these MSME companies, orders have been issued to 30 percent of the companies to stop work. This is an alarming situation.
Fourth phase investigation underway
Currently, this fourth phase of risk based inspection of medicines is going on. During this period, 446 samples from 22 companies have been collected so far. Of these, detailed investigation has been done in 271 cases. Out of these 271 samples, 230 were found to be of standard quality, while 41 were not found to be of standard quality. GMP system was introduced in the country in the year 1988. The objective of ‘Good Manufacturing Practice’ (GMP) rules is to maintain the standard quality of medicines. The last amendment in this was done in 2005.
In August this year, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had announced that companies with a turnover of Rs 250 crore or more will have to implement GMP within 6 months. Rest of the companies will get 1 year for this. If companies do not do this on time, they will be fined.
