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If you are worried that the pill you are popping up might be spurious, here is good news.
Soon, you will be able to know whether the drug is genuine or not by simply sending an SMS from your mobile, thanks to a new initiative by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI).
“We will be introducing a unique identification number for each drug that is in the market. This will be printed on the label clearly to enable a common user to identify it,'' Dr Surinder Singh, DGCI, told Business Line on the sidelines of a national seminar on ‘Regulatory Challenges - Global Pharmaceutical Market' here.
If one has a doubt on the authenticity of the drug either because of its different taste/shape or reaction, one can immediately SMS the manufacturer (whose number would also be provided) for a confirmation, he said.
“We are also working on placing certain checks and balances to protect the manufacturers from possible mischief by ensuring that repeated SMSes on a particular drug are not sent from the same number,'' he added.
On the possible time for introducing the system, Dr Singh said: “It would be launched soon. The technical committee has already approved this and the other formalities are in progress.''
EFFICACY
The proposed system is expected to protect a patient from serious risks of consuming spurious drugs.
Even the manufacturers could benefit as they can take note of the circulation of spurious drugs under their brand name with the alert triggered by a user.
“This is very important because all the stakeholders need to be protected from spurious drugs,'' he said.
The DGCI has already mandated that a barcode be printed on the label of the drugs especially for the export markets.
According to DGCI data, the size of the Indian drug and pharmaceutical industry is about Rs 1.35 lakh crore.
“Many popular brands of different companies are hit by spurious drugs. It is generally estimated that 10 per cent of the drugs in the market are spurious,'' Mr P. Bhaskara Narayan, Chief Financial Officer of Natco Pharma Ltd, said when contacted.
“If there is an alert based on a unique number, it is possible to ascertain the quality of a drug. Already, bar-coding has been introduced. It remains to be seen how the proposed system will work in practice,'' he added.
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