Even after three months of granting stay orders against the DCGI order asking the state drug controllers to act against combination drugs, the Madras High Court has not listed the case for next hearing. According to sources, the next hearing in the case may not come before April this year.

The delay in the hearing of the cases will prove to be a boon to the beleaguered pharma industry in the country as it can liquidate the stocks already in the market. According to industry estimates, several thousands of crores of rupees worth stocks of combination drugs are in the market.

Sources said that the court may not list the case immediately as there are several pending cases in the court and the stay will continue for some more months before the court hearing the case.

There are three cases pending in the Madras high court which are yet to be listed for hearing. In the first case, five pharma companies in Pondicherry had moved court on November 11 for the stay. The court granted stay on November 12 and asked the DCGI to file the counter affidavit. In the second case, the Federation of South Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (FSIPMA) moved the court and got the stay for its members.

To counter the industry in the wake of the successive stay orders of the Madras High Court, the DCGI decided to invoke section 33 (p) of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 under which the DCGI directive to the state drug authorities became binding.

But, in a big blow to the DCGI's efforts to weed out irrational combination drugs from the pharmaceutical market of the country, the Madras High Court once again stayed the DCGI order invoking section 33 (p) of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940. The court stayed the order on a petition filed by Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI).

The DCGI filed the counter affidavit in the Madras high court on January 19 and due to the Christmas vacation, the court did not take up the case immediately. The case may prolong and an early decision may come only in June or July as the court will go for vacation in April and May.