Upset by the alleged involvement of even licensed small-scale manufacturers in the spurious drug manufacturing and its supply chain, industry associations have begun a coordinated effort to enquire in detail and clear their hands in the issue.
Pharmabiz learnt that the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) and the Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI) have been communicating each other to take up the issue seriously, mainly in the wake of a cover story on spurious drugs appeared recently in a leading magazine. The article had said 'one in every four medicinal drugs that you buy in the country is spurious or fake or substandard', and had pinpointed a few centres in North India where rampant spurious drug trading is going on.
CIPI, the apex organisation of small scale drug makers in India, has written to its constituent member state associations to conduct a detailed enquiry to verify whether any of its members were or is involved in the spurious business, and to come up with reports at the earliest. The associations are planning a wait and watch policy, and further mutual discussions to recommend permanent and practical solutions to the issue, said sources.
Industry circles fear that some of the recent media reports on spurious drugs might have created a bad image of the Indian pharma industry among the public and export markets, besides causing panic among the people. According to the feedback on the PMA Tamilnadu meeting, many of its members felt that a section of the media were sensationalizing the issue by 'inflating beyond proportions' with dubious statistics and ambiguous reporting, very often pointing the fingers at licensed drug manufacturers.
"It is like alleging all the printing presses in India are making fake notes. Just because of the fact that we make life saving drugs, it is unfortunate to portray us as part of the spurious drug business. I am sure, any licensed manufacturer, always under the scrutiny of various regulating authorities, will not resort to make spurious drugs. If the journalists are so sure about the origin of these drugs, they should show the moral responsibility to the nation and the public by informing the police and other authorities to bring those criminals under the clutches of law" demands T.S.Jaishankar, Chairman of CIPI.
According to him, the Government should bring in a mechanism to regulate the drug trade and monitor the suppliers to solve this menace. 'Currently anyone can become a distributor of drugs. The Government should enforce certain criteria to become distributors and wholesalers, and should consider factors like track record, IT assessee or not etc. for granting a license for distribution. If the Government is adamant to implement Schedule M for ensuring manufacturing quality, then why can't they implement similar quality benchmark for the drug distribution system?' asks Jaishankar.