The Indian government will soon launch an aggressive campaign in the African countries to counter the propaganda unleashed by the multinational companies (MNCs) against the Indian generic drugs.

As part of the campaign, the Indian government will invite decision-makers, regulators, diplomats, prominent people and experts from African countries to visit India to show and convince them the way the generic drugs are being manufactured in India. The Indian government wanted to show them the quality parameters which a pharma company has to follow before manufacturing a generic drug in India. The campaign will be a regular one and will also include presentations and workshops in the African countries to showcase the quality of generic drugs being manufactured by Indian pharma companies.

Senior officials in the union commerce ministry said that the government is seized of the issue and will soon embark on a counter campaign in the African countries against the MNCs propaganda. The government will conduct presentations and workshops in the African countries to allay their fears regarding the quality of Indian generic drugs.

The MNCs are learnt to have spread the rumours in the African countries that the Indian generic drugs are spurious drugs and only patented drugs are good for consumption. Besides, the MNCs have also started a campaign in the African countries confusing them of spurious drugs with counterfeit drugs. While the spurious drugs are substandard drugs, counterfeiting is an issue associated with patenting and trademark.

Recently, Uganda has come out with a draft bill 'Uganda Counterfeit Goods Bill, 2008' under which generic medicines will also be classified as counterfeit drugs. Several NGOs working in the health sector have come out against the bill asking the Ugandan authorities not to mislead the public that generics are counterfeits and also to ensure that the rights of generic manufacturers are preserved in the legislative process.

Besides Uganda, Kenya is also learnt to be brining out such a bill soon.

Apart from presentations and workshops in the African countries, the commerce ministry is exploring the ways and means to counter the MNC propaganda. The government will take every measure to inform and educate the regulators in these countries about the quality of generic drugs, the official said.