DCGI's mobile drug testing labs to check fake medicines

NEW DELHI: Grappling with sale of fake medicines in the country, the government has now decided to strengthen its regulatory mechanism. The health ministry will soon start mobile drug testing laboratories for surprise checks of medicines available in the market.

The drug regulator, drugs controller general of India ( DCGI), is working with various institutions including Indian Institute of Technology as well as international regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and China's FDA to understand the feasibility of the project.

"We have discussed the proposal with the ministry. We are currently talking to various international regulators to understand the mechanism as it works in these countries. We are also talking to institutes here to get technology," DCGI GN Singh said.

While the project has already been implemented in Gujarat and has received good reviews, the Central government now plans to roll out such mobile laboratories across the country. However, it will be done in phases, Singh said.

In the first phase, the regulator is targeting to launch the programme in three states — Uttar Pradesh, J&K and Himachal Pradesh — by the end of this year.

According to Singh, mobile drug testing laboratories will carry equipment for primary testing of samples. The idea is to do surprise inspections, while also saving on resources.

The Indian pharmaceutical market, pegged at over Rs 80,000 crore annually, is highly fragmented with many companies and even more number of products. This makes it difficult for regulatory agencies to keep track of products that are sold in the market, mainly in rural areas.

Though regulatory agencies collect samples for testing at regular intervals, the massive size of these samples takes a lot of time and resources.

According to the regulator, use of mobile testing laboratories will enable drug inspectors to segregate fake and counterfeit medicines at the factory and chemist itself and only those samples which are suspected to be lacking in quality will be brought for further verification.

Recently, CBI director Anil Sinha said fake drugs market in India is taking shape of transnational organised crime which may adversely affect the economy.