Ipca Laboratories Ltd has received approval for its anti-malarial finished product formulation - artesunate + amodiaquine co-blister under WHO's Prequalification Programme. The product is now listed in the WHO Pre-qualification product list dated April 23, 2008. Ipca is the second company in the world to have pre- qualification for the product.
The prequalification programme was created by the World Health Organization in 2001. It aims to increase access to priority medicinal products that meet unified standards of acceptable quality, safety and efficacy, currently focusing on those medicines used for treatment of diseases such as malaria.
The list of pre-qualified medicinal products is used principally by United Nations agencies including UNAIDS and UNICEF - to guide their procurement decisions. But, the list has become a vital tool for any agency or organization involved in bulk purchasing of medicines, be this at country level or at international level, as demonstrated by the Global Fund to fight diseases such as Malaria.