With a view to ensure better understanding of the regulatory requirements in the UK, representatives from the commerce and health ministry along with top regulatory officials from the Drug Controller General of India's (DCGI'S) office recently met with the global chief of Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the first time in New Delhi. The meeting focused on exploring newer avenues and strengthening its relation with the UK based regulatory body that is responsible to regulate and overlook quality and efficacy of medicines that circulates within the country.

It is understood that India has been working very closely with the UK government from last six months to bring the regulators and officials from the trade commission for the much anticipated meeting aimed at exploring better trade relations with UK. At present, UK holds the position of being the second largest export destination for the Indian pharma products and this initiative is seen as a much needed step taken by the Indian government to push for better exports of the pharma products to the UK.

The meeting focused on exploring close collaborative efforts between the MHRA and the office of the DCGI to address key issues and challenges that is being faced by the Indian exporters. Dr P V Appaji, director general of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) informed that the council will be playing a key role in addressing all the export related issues by providing all the required data on Indian companies to the interested UK based companies for their assistance.

He said, “This meeting shows the eagerness of the governments in supporting the business interest of the Indian exporters by pushing for the exports to the UK. Since this was the first meeting with the MHRA representatives, focus was given on building a strong foundation that will help initiate activities to develop a symbiotic working relation between both the regulatory bodies through ideas exchange.”

The meeting focused on presenting some of the major problems that the industry faced when it came to exports to UK. The government on its part assured that all the products that are manufactured within the country where of highest quality and that all the steps are being taken by the regulatory body in India to see to it that they remain the same. Appaji further informed that after having a well briefed discussion on the issues and regulatory concerns faced by the Indian exporters, officials from both the sides unanimously agreed upon having such meeting on a regular basis.

Pharmexcil reports that India has a large number of MHRA approved  facilities in India, with more in line in the coming years, reinstating the importance of Indian manufactured drugs in the UK.