Goa will soon become one among the first states in the country to totally comply with the mandatory provisions of the revised Schedule M guidelines of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Out of the 403 units in Goa, only 13 units are non-compliant at present and these units are likely to finish the modernisation process within a month's time. Six units have close down themselves because of their inability to meet the requirements. The state had alerted all the units to either comply with the rules or close down after the deadline. Due to this six units decided not to close down and the rest complied with the rules, except the 13 which are in the finishing stages of compliance, S.N. Tripathi, director, Goa Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) told Pharmabiz.

He said that the food testing laboratory and the drug testing laboratory at Margoa was being modernised under the capacity building assistance programme funded by the World Bank. Rs 2 crore has been sanctioned for setting up the civil infrastructure, Rs. 1 crore each for food and the drug testing laboratories and Rs 2.5 crore has been earmarked for purchasing the equipment. The modernisation process would be completed within a few months. By this, both the laboratories will have new buildings and will be able to test more samples. Unlike other drug testing laboratories, narcotics and samples of liquor seized by police are also tested in the drug testing laboratory at Goa.

Goa has a total of 403 units including loan-licensed units, with about 295 registered pharmaceutical producers in the state of Goa. Of this 108 are independent units. In the ISM sector, Goa has only nine manufacturers. Goan pharmaceutical industry produces drugs worth Rs 2800 crore every year, of which Rs 550 crore are exported. Most of the leading pharma majors in India have set up export oriented manufacturing facilities in Goa, informed the FDA director.