Govt urged to end propaganda projecting India as major producer of spurious drugs

Concerned over the propaganda being orchestrated by the vested interests that around 20%-25% of drugs produced in India are spurious, the country's pharmaceutical industry has asked the government to come out strongly with the real picture in this regard to set the record straight once and for all.

Industry sources quoted by PharmaBiz said that the sector raised this issue with Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad when he was in Mumbai recently. The industry expressed its displeasure over the repeated projection of Indian pharmaceutical industry as the major producers of spurious drugs in the world by the vested interests including some international organizations.

Some time back, the trade association Assocham had announced that the spurious drugs were growing at 20%-25% in the country and a substantial percentage of Indian drugs are spurious. Subsequently, several national and international organizations had quoted the Assocham figure to tarnish the image of Indian drugmakers.