The government of Andhra Pradesh has appointed R P Thakur, as the new director general of Drugs Control Administration (DCA) in the state. Earlier Thakur has served as Additional Director General of Police, Technical services. With the new appointment he has replaced the earlier Director General R P Meena.

The newly appointed Director General has a challenging task ahead as there are lots of issues pending regarding drug regulations. Andhra Pradesh is already known as one of the top pharma hubs in the country. Especially in the bulk drug arena, the state has performed remarkably well over the past few years. With more and more pharma companies  planning to set up their bases here there are a host of problems and industry related issues that are to be cleared by the Drug Controller.

With more counterfeit drugs coming in the market, it has become a big challenge for the drug control administration in the state to identify the spurious drugs. There is a need for identifying the spurious and substandard drugs and put a ban on them forever. During the past few days many companies which were producing fake and ineffective pesticides have been banned by the drug controller in the interest of the poor farmers in the state.

In view of this the most important priority for the new DG is to further strengthen the drugs control administration in the state. Recently Thakur has received the ‘president’s police medal’ for his distinguished services in the police department. He is a dynamic personality who’s always dedicated and focused on achieving the goals in the right direction.

The Director General now has to effectively enforce the Drugs and Cosmetics Act & Rules in a state to streamline more than 1800 pharmaceutical companies, including bulk drugs and formulation majors and about 50,000 medical shops in the state.

The Bulk Drug Association executive director K V Rangarao said that the new director general has been very positive and has shown encouraging signs to resolve all the pending issues relating to pharma industry in the state.