Replacing the current Director General R P Thakur, Government of Andhra Pradesh has appointed Dr B L Meena, as the new Director General of Andhra Pradesh Drug Control Administration (APDCA) in the state. Earlier B L Meena had served as deputy director (administration) in all Indian Institute of Medical sciences at Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Now, the new DG has a challenging task ahead as there are lots of issues pending regarding drug regulations in the state. Most important challenge against the new DG would be the implementation of recent directive of Health Ministry order about issuing licences of drugs only in generic names and not in branded names.

While taking part at the national pharmacy week celebrations in Hyderabad, Dr Meena, had assured industry members all the required support for the growth of the Pharma Industry in the state. “My aim is to make drug control administration department more industry friendly and would like to seek the cooperation of all members for the smooth running of the office,” said Dr Meena. The new DG has assured to encourage Pharma SMEs Industry to grow further by upgrading their manufacturing units to the level of WHO GMP.

Industry sources said that being a doctor by profession, the new DG would be able to understand much better about the regulatory functioning and the issues. So far the APDCA has not taken a clear stand on the issue. Though many states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have been already following the directive of health Ministry, the confusion is still prevailing with the officials of APDCA. In this regard APDCA officials have already written a letter to Drug Controller of India (DCI) seeking clarity on the issue. “We are carrying forward with the same old procedure of issuing licenses to drug products to the companies. We will be implementing the new directive once we receive a clear instruction on the matter,” informed an official at the DCA office.

Earlier R P Thakur had served in the office for about one year three months. He had done some remarkable work to weed out the fake and fraudulent drug manufacturers in the state. With more counterfeit drugs coming in the market, it has become a big challenge for the drug control administration in the state to identify the spurious drugs. There is a need for identifying the spurious and substandard drugs and put a ban on them forever.