The Korean Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to officially recognize Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) soon. The announcement is to come during the visit of a high-level Indian delegation to Korea in October.

The ministry of Commerce and the office of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) have already begun necessary spadework, it is learnt. The Indian Mission in Korea has also been actively involved the process.

The process of streamlining the regulatory procedures through the recognition of Indian IP had begun long back and Indian regulatory authorities had hosted several conferences with their foreign counterparts to apprise the regulators of the standard of Indian drug manufacturing and licensing procedures in the country.

Indian authorities had been trying to emphasize on the high standards of the IP and its parity with the British, US, Russian and Japanese pharmacopoeias. Korean FDA had in the recent past given in-principle approval for IP and had sought documentary evidence to support the demand for IP acceptance from India.

Other Asian countries including Philippines and Thailand are also in the process of officially accepting the IP.

The process was triggered off due to the interest showed by the Basic Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil), which had led a delegation to Korea, Philippines, Indonesia and Bangkok some two years ago.

The Chemexcil had also entered into a MoU with the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders' Association (KPTA) to take steps towards increasing the trade cooperation between the two countries in the field of pharmaceuticals.

Both organizations had promised to have joint meetings to consult on various problems pertaining to the promotion of trade and services between Korea and India. They are also for exchange of trade-related information between them and cooperate in sponsoring missions and buyer-sellers meets, with a view to fostering friendship and understanding between the business communities of the two countries.