The first comprehensive meeting of the newly constituted Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), the highest decision-making body under the Union health ministry on technical matters, will be conducted on October 10. The meeting is expected to take several crucial decisions including the amendments in Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

The new DTAB was constituted by the health ministry after a gap several months in early June this year and held its introductory meeting on June 24. The introductory meet did not take any major decisions.

Sources said that the next meeting is going to be a crucial one as it is going to discuss a 62-page long agenda. The DTAB, which will be chaired by Director General of Health Services (DGHS) who is the ex-officio chairman, is expected to discuss several issues such as Schedule D, several patented related issues, FDC issue, etc.

There are 18 members in the newly constituted DTAB whose term is for three years. Other members of the DTAB are: Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr Surinder Singh; director of Central Drug Laboratory (Kolkatta) Dr P K Guha; director of Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli; director of Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly; president of Medical Council of India (MCI); president of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI); and director of Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow.

There are two members in the DTAB who are nominated by the DCGI. They are Karnataka drug controller Dr Jagashetty and Jammu & Kashmir drug controller Satish Gupta. K Chinnaswamy is the other member of the Board who was nominated by the PCI. The MCI has named Dr Dhorubajyat Bora as its nominee in the Board. Dr BPS Reddy, CMD of Hetero Drugs, is the nominee of the pharma companies.

Other members of the 18-member Board include: Dr FD Seth, advisor to Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI); Dr Dharam Prakash, nominee of India Medical Association (IMA); Dr C Gopalakrishna Murthy of Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA); and two govt analysts—J K Raj Vaidya of Drug Testing Laboratory, Madhya Pradesh and Yatendra Raj Mehta of drug testing laboratory, Rajasthan.