India raises concerns over FDA action during visit to promote collaboration

The US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has met with India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on a visit to the country this week.

Commissioner Hamburg arrived in India yesterday on an eight-day visit aimed at strengthening cooperation between the FDA and its Indian counterparts. The trip will include visits to Delhi, Cochin, and Mumbai, where Commissioner Hamburg will meet with Indian policy and government leaders involved in the regulation of medical and food products exported to the USA.

Today she met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma in which he raised ‘serious concerns’ over the FDA’s recent inspections of Indian pharma companies. India raised the issue of ‘disproportionate penalties’, according to The Financial Express, after inspections and restrictions issued by the FDA to companies including India’s largest drugmaker Ranbaxy (BSE: 500359) in January.