India seeks end-to-end indigenous drug manufacturing

India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals’ (DoP) draft Pharmaceuticals Policy has been set out to further the key aims of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having a pharma sector that is stable in the long-term, and to boost the Make in India program.

Other aims include making essential drugs accessible at affordable prices to what the draft document calls the "common masses", making India sufficiently self-reliant in end-to-end indigenous drug manufacturing, ensuring world-class drugs for domestic consumption and exports, and creating an environment for research and development (R&D) to produce innovative drugs.

Under the policy, all regulators and commissions pertaining to drug development would be brought within the ambit of one department, enabling the government to take decisions on drug cost controls. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) would introduce and enforce price caps on selected medicines and ensure that the they are available in the market in adequate quantities.