BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

Indian pharma group sends letter to new health minister

June 11, 2014 12:25 AM UTC

In a letter to Harsh Vardhan, the new head of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW), the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance urged the new Indian government to pass legislation introduced last year that would establish a Central Drugs Authority (CDA) and centralize licensing for 17 categories of drugs and therapeutics. The alliance also said it is necessary that the country's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) "initiates a dialogue" with activists involved in ongoing litigation in India's Supreme Court over clinical trial deaths. According to the alliance, which represents 19 Indian pharmaceutical companies, CDSCO's approvals of clinical trials and drugs have "come to a standstill" in part because of the litigation and resulting fall out, which the alliance said directly harms patients (see BioCentury Extra, Sept. 10, 2013). ...