Jan 27 2024, 09:33
From 'facilitator' to 'regulator': How Rajeev Raghuvanshi is fixing the gaps in pharma industry
The pharmaceutical industry, and the central drug regulatory agency, faced a severe reputation crisis following the deaths of 70 children in Gambia due to contaminated cough syrups in 2022. A few months later, Rajeev Raghuvanshi took over as the Drug Controller General of India and is currently driving a transformational change.
That's how the FDA Bhawan the headquarters of India's apex drug regulatory agency, the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) - in Delhi's bustling ITO area always looked. The building is at the heart of every critical decision that impacts the Indian pharmaceutical industry - from launch of new drugs to clinical- trial approvals for global drug makers. Yet, for years the health ministry authority has grappled with serious reputation challenges.
Laxity in functioning, low transparency and tardy handling of files are just a few. Most damning are charges of corruption against a few senior officials in the past. Seen as being too cozy with the industry that it should monitor and regulate, the CDSCO has not been taken seriously for most of its existence.
At the centre of that makeover is Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). In the view of experts, he is treading on a thorny path. The mandate appears clear: Transform the central administration through timely and unsparing actions, those that bolsters trust in quality of Indian medicines and, in turn, make the industry globally competitive.
Against most of his predecessors who have moved up through internal transfers or promotions, Raghuvanshi's appointment last February was through the Union Public Service Commission route, a rigorous selection process for hiring top bureaucrats.
Just five months before his appointment, the Indian industry was embroiled in an unprecedented crisis. Its reputation was hobbled as a reliable supplier of medicines to low- and middle-income countries. Gambia, a small African nation, erupted in news, having reported deaths of 70 children allegedly due to acute kidney damage caused by toxic impurities contained in cough syrups supplied by Maiden Pharma, a Haryana-based drug maker.
source: et
Jan 27 2024, 09:33
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