Govt panel to help boost drug manufacture, pharma funding

NEW DELHI: Aiming to boost local manufacture of essential medicines and attract investments in the pharma sector, the government is set to draw up a plan to build a drug regulatory system which is in line with the best globally and facilitates ease of doing business.

The move comes in the wake of rising demand for medicines during the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide amid supply shortages of some drugs, medical devices and other pharmaceutical products.

The government has now formed an expert committee under the department of pharma to identify bottlenecks and suggest measures that can help attract investments so that the drug manufacturing sector can ramp up capacities, add technology and also reduce dependence on imports for even raw material in the form of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and bulk drugs.

The committee has been asked to submit a preliminary report with action plan by end of this week, a source said.

The committee will examine the number and type of approvals and compliances needed in the sector by investors for setting up operations and compare them with the world. It has also been asked to identify common hurdles and bottlenecks.