Health Ministry examining 1700 more products for efficacy and safety

NEW DELHI: The Health Ministry is examining as many as 1,700 more drug products to determine if they can be termed as safe, efficacious, and suitable for marketing, a senior health ministry official informed.

In the face of an unfavourable outcome, the decision is bound to unnerve the pharma industry which has already been ripped of a whopping 3000 crores due to an already placed ban on 300 drugs by the ministry of health.

According to Economic Times, though temporary relief has been granted to pharmaceutical companies from courts over the ban, certain sections within the pharma industry are planning legal action against the government's decision and selective interpretation of the clauses that empower the health ministry to prohibit marketing drugs in "public interest".

The health ministry however, stands firm on legal grounds of the action taken against what it terms as irrational drug combinations."Cleansing the system is important. We cannot have the tag of a country that manufactures irrational drugs," the health ministry official clarified. Wanting to remain anonymous, the official made clear that he wasn't authorized to talk to the media. "This exercise has actually been going on for the past one-and-half years. It is a process," he added.

"We have to gather the evidence in respect of every drug and every FDC (fixed dose combination) and then study them from a scientific perspective," he said. "Prohibition can only take place when the government is convinced that these are irrational or unsafe for use by the public." he clarified.