Safety first – India’s regulators must ensure quality and safety of drugs

Source: The post is based on the article “Safety first – India’s regulators must ensure quality and safety of drugs” published in The Hindu on 20th June 2023

Syllabus: GS 3 – Changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Relevance: About issues with Indian-made drugs.

News: Two patients have recently died after being given Indian-made anaesthetic drugs in Sri Lanka. This has raised questions about imported Indian drugs.

What are the recent issues highlighted in Indian-made drugs?

-A few months ago, the United States found a highly drug-resistant bacteria in Indian-made drugs.

-Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) linked the deaths of at least 70 children in the Gambia from acute kidney injury, to Indian-made cough syrups. Deadly chemicals such as diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol were used as a cheaper alternative for propylene glycol. A detailed causality assessment by the Gambia and independent investigations found a link between the deaths and the toxic chemicals.

Similarly, last year, Uzbekistan claimed that children died after consuming India-made cough syrup.

Note: Diethylene glycol-contaminated drugs have led to at least five incidents of poisoning in Chennai, Mumbai, Bihar, Gurugram and Jammu between 1972 and 2020.

-Earlier this year, WHO flagged the contaminated drugs found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia due to Indian-made cough syrup.

What should be done?

The Indian drug regulator has so far failed to institute measures to make sure drugs produced in India for export and domestic use are safe. To protect India as a pharmacy of the global south, the regulator should act as a watchdog to ensure drug safety, and not as a facilitator for the pharma industry.