Bharat Biotech’s Krishna Ella suggests merging state drug regulators with central body to ensure ‘one quality, one standard’

His comments came on Sunday amid questions raised about the quality of Indian medicines in recent months. The latest case took place on Friday, when Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare recalled its entire batch of eye drops allegedly linked to vision loss in the United States.

Before that, Indian-made cough syrups were reportedly linked to the deaths of children in The Gambia and Uzbekistan last year.

The entire Indian pharmaceutical industries cannot be sullied for a handful of cases, he said. “Even in Western countries, some companies are penalized on quality issues.”

“There should be a single regulatory framework in India. All state drug regulatory bodies should be merged with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and that will solve the problem,” Ella said.

“But somewhere, a political decision and commitment is needed for that,” he said on the sidelines of an event where an agreement was signed between the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison Global Health Institute (GHI) and the Ella Foundation in Delhi for the creation of the very first “UW-Madison One Health Center” in Bangalore.

It is important to centralize the system, he said. “The licenses for the cough syrups that were at issue in the recent cases were issued by state regulators, not the central (agency).” “We have very good businesses, but because of some local agencies we are in trouble,” he said. said.

A day after its factory was inspected by Indian drug regulators following allegations that its eye drops were linked to vision loss in the United States, Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare was invited on Saturday to cease manufacturing all ophthalmic products until the investigation is complete.