The Centre has decided to conduct an all India survey on the extent of availability of spurious and not-of-standard quality drugs in the country. It is expected to be a broad-based survey covering 42,000 samples belonging to 15 therapeutic groups drawn from across the country listed in National List of Essential Medicines. The last nationwide survey of spurious drugs was conducted in 2009. The Union health ministry designated Dr. Surinder Singh, director, NIB, Noida, as the convener of the survey and a fund of Rs.8.5 crores has been allocated for the purpose. The survey is scheduled to be completed by February 2015. The survey is expected to help in identifying the geographical areas where spurious drugs are available which may help authorities to have a focused monitoring of this activity. The National Survey Sample Office (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme has already started working on the project by approaching the state governments to provide necessary information to arrive at a statistical design for the survey. Drug Control Departments of the state governments have a decisive role in tracking down the spurious drug units and eliminating them with their inspection staff. The joint efforts of the state governments and the Centre can only help the country to project clear statistics on spurious drugs and clarifying India's stand on the same with scientific evidence.
The government initiative in this regard has to be seen in the context of attempts by certain vested interests to tarnish India’s image as a reliable exporter of cheap generics to the global markets. India’s position as a strong player in the global pharmaceutical market had been under attack for some time by spreading rumours that Indian drug makers also produce and export spurious drugs. The survey is an attempt to disprove this false propaganda and strengthening the credibility of Indian pharma industry further through a dedicated scientific based evidence. It can help to position India as a strong pharma leader globally with reliable data to support. In fact, the Central health ministry has been attempting to improve the drug manufacturing standards on a regular basis for the last ten years by making GMP mandatory in 2005 and introducing Spurious Drugs Act from 2009. India has already proven its international quality standard capabilities with a large number of ANDA approvals, DMF filings, US FDA/UK MHRA approved manufacturing facilities which are considered as key indicators for assessing the capabilities of any national pharma sector. This fact is further demonstrated by the trends in the number of product approvals received from various major drug regulatory authorities of the world.