In an effort to further bolster coordination among different ministries and pharmaceutical associations in framing a concerted strategy to restore the image of the country and check the spread of spurious drugs with 'made in India' labels in African countries, the Department of Pharma held a joint meeting but failed to hammer out any concrete proposals.

The department of pharmaceuticals requested the commerce ministry to form lobby groups in the African countries to highlight the quality of Indian generics. It also urged the pharma associations to get stronger in giving fitting rebuttals about false media reports about spurious drugs.

The meeting held recently was attended by officials from the ministries of commerce, health and chemicals, besides leaders from associations like IPA, SPIC, IDMA, FOPE and CIPI. The meeting, also attended by Pharmexcil, unanimously condemned the recent event of Chinese companies exporting fake drugs with 'made in India' labels into the African countries. The departments of pharma and commerce explained the steps taken in the wake of Nigeria episode.

IPA leader wanted government to publicise a list of GMP complied units in India to be circulated to Indian Missions abroad. SPIC and IDMA pointed out that there was no need as all manufacturing units licensed are schedule M complaint. SPIC pointed out that missions abroad should insist that importers should import from India directly rather than from transit points like Dubai, Singapore, Hamburg, etc.

Pharma secretary pointed out that the associations should take a stronger stand whenever media reports appeared about spurious drugs, because the media reports formed the basis of research and articles by NGOs abroad to discredit the Indian pharma industry. The meeting, which took note of the recent study by the DCGI to ascertain the quantum of spurious drugs in the country, wanted the commerce ministry to highlight the plus points like strong regulatory framework and norms for quality check in the country.

Though the meeting could not hammer out any specific and concrete strategy in this regard, it was a welcome move as lack of coordination among the departments has always been a matter of worry for the industry. It was first meeting of the kind to bring all concerned stakeholders and departments together to assess the situation and further bolster the counter moves against such episodes in future.