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Mr Ram Vilas Paswan

Our Bureaus

New Delhi/Mumbai, May 27 In a bid to focus better on the fast growing pharmaceutical sector, the Government has decided to create a separate department to make relevant policy for this industry.

The new department will be carved out of the existing Department of Chemicals and Fertilisers, which at present is the nodal authority for the pharmaceutical sector.

“We have already taken an in-principle decision to create a separate department for the pharmaceutical sector,” the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, told reporters here today. This decision was taken at a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries held last month.

Once the modalities are worked out over the next few months, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) will also be brought under the department. With the regulatory Drug Controller General of India’s (DCGI) office being left out of the proposed new Pharmaceuticals Department, the Union Health Ministry has been spared the heart-burn.

The proposal for a new pharmaceutical department had been mooted to bring under one roof the different functions concerning the pharmaceutical industry. And this meant the DCGI’s office, at present under the Health Ministry, would move out into the new department.

Expectedly, the proposal struck a discordant note with the Health Ministry, a Ministry source close to the development told Business Line.

In fact, the task of creating the new department is operationally difficult, as the pharmaceutical industry comes under the jurisdiction of other Ministries as well, the source explained.

For instance, the Patent Office, that gave patents on new medicines, is under the Commerce Ministry and research-related initiatives come under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Also, the industry comes under the purview of several Acts, again under other ministries. To name a handful, The Patents Act (under commerce), the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (under Health), The Essential Commodities Act (under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) and, of course, the Drug Price Control Order (under Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry – C&F).

But with only the NPPA, already under the C&F Ministry, moving out into the proposed department is like old wine in a new bottle, an industry official said.

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