As part of forging mutually-benefiting cooperation with regulatory bodies in other countries and sharing Indian experience at the global level, the DCGI and a senior official from health department will attend the 13th International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA) in Bern, Switzerland from September 16 to 19.

DCGI Dr Surinder Singh and Joint Secretary in the health ministry Debashish Panda will present papers in the international conference, besides meeting their counterparts from other countries to take feedbacks and inputs on improving the Indian system. Panda will be presenting on capacity building measures in the Indian regulatory system while the DCGI will share Indian experience on clinical trials and IT-enabled programmes, sources said.

The conference, being held by World Health Organisation and the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic), is aimed at promoting collaboration among the drug regulatory bodies in the WHO member States. It is also intended to assist in coordinating the work of the various authorities and thus enhance the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines. The ICDRA was organized for the first time in 1980 by the WHO.

The DCGI and the other official, after attending the conference, will also meet the WHO director-general at its Geneva headquarters, as the WHO has been funding lately various programmes to improve the functioning of the CDSCO.

Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing WHO and USFDA-funded programmes, two senior officials from CDSCO will be given 10-day training by the USFDA at two premier centres in America from October 6. One official will be given training at the Centre for Drugs Evaluation and Research and other will get hands-on training at the Centre for Biologicals Evaluation and Research. The US FDA, which recently held a workshop for 25 trainers in Delhi on clinical trials monitoring, will be sponsoring this training also.