The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has announced the setting up of a high level committee under the chairmanship of Dr R A Mashelkar, Director General, Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR) to suggest ways and means for effectively controlling spurious drug manufacturing in the country. The committee is to prepare a road map for the effective implementation of the Drug regulatory laws and also recommend significant changes in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, intended to make it more stringent and powerful.

The committee is to have representatives from various ministries including Law Ministry, Home Ministry, Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry and Health and Family Welfare Ministry. The committee is to submit its report within six months from now.

Announcing the new committee, Shatrughan Sinha, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare said that efforts have been made to make the committee the most representative of its kind.

Nominees from Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), All India Small Scale Drug Manufacturers Association, All India Chemists and Druggists Organization (AICDO), Indian Pharmaceutical Association will all be part of the committee. The intelligence wing of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance which has already been in action against spurious drug business for some time will be represented in the committee by Vijay Karan. Representatives from World Health Organisation and consumer organizations are also part of the committee.

The Centre has also included health secretaries from five states viz, Karnataka, West Bengal, Delhi, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in the committee. The committee would also be asked to nominate three eminent scientists into the panel to make the picture complete.
The minister said that the committee would study all issues suggest better mechanisms.

Sinha's announcement has come as a quick response to the industry plea, which felt that the spurious drug-manufacturing sector in the country is worth Rs 250 crore and is posing severe damage to the genuine drug manufacturers.