India's Lawmakers to consider new drugs bill to regulate imports, manufacturing of medicines

• Image Credit: Prag News

• Jul 14, 2023 | Poonam Nath

India's reputation as the "pharmacy of the world" has taken a hit when cough syrups were produced...

Digital Desk: In the latest development, as per the parliamentary notification on Thursday, learning from a deadly cough syrup crisis, India's lawmakers will adopt a new drugs bill next week that outlines the laws for importing, manufacturing, and selling medications.

India's reputation as the "pharmacy of the world" has taken a hit when cough syrups produced there were implicated in at least 89 child fatalities in the Gambia and Uzbekistan last year.

According to the notice, the law aims to guarantee "quality, safety, efficacy, performance, and clinical trial of new drugs... with the objective of highest possible regulatory standards and a transparent regulatory regime."

The amendments in the new Drugs, Medical Equipment, and Cosmetics Bill, 2023, which will replace an old drugs law if passed by parliament when it reconvenes after a recess on July 20, weren't instantly made obvious.

India's $41 billion pharmaceutical business is one of the world's largest, and it has long helped supply cheaper alternatives to Western pharmaceuticals, particularly to impoverished and developing countries.

However, recent cough syrup-related deaths, as well as at least one other incident of an India-made eye drop being linked to three deaths in the United States, have cast a cloud over the industry's reputation.

Since last month, India has made testing for cough syrup exports mandatory. Companies involved in the production of the syrups connected to deaths in the Gambia and Uzbekistan have denied any involvement.