Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Rs.1750 crore for strengthening the drug regulatory system

August 13, 2015

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved Rs.1750 crore for strengthening the drug regulatory system both at the Central and the State.
The sanctioned amount will be spent for strengthening and up-gradation of the drug regulatory system over a period of three years.
The total amount of Rs 1750 crore will be divided into two parts, an amount of Rs.900 crore will be spent on strengthening central structures whereas Rs.850 crore will be made available to the State Governments.

Strengthening and up-gradation includes:

Provision of additional equipment and manpower in existing drug testing laboratories
Setting up of new laboratories for testing drugs, medical devices and cosmetics
Making mobile drug testing laboratories available
Creation of additional manpower for regulatory structures.
Introduction of organisation wide e-Governance and Information Technology enabled/ online services.
Setting up a training academy for both the Central and State regulatory and drug testing officials.
Assistance to the States for strengthening their drug regulatory structures.

The need for strengthening and up-gradation of drug regulatory system was felt in line with recent ban imposed by US and EU on drugs manufactured in India.
Implications:

These measures will help Indian drug manufactures to enhance quality, safety and efficacy of drugs and other medical products.
This will also help to increase export of pharmaceutical products from India and thus will trigger growth of the domestic medical devices sector.
The measure of common training programmes for regulatory and laboratory staff will help to develop uniform practices throughout the country.

Note: India is one of the largest manufacturers of drugs and exports pharmaceutical products to over 200 countries/economies.

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