New Delhi: Blindness, severe eye infection and death from Indian-made eye drops in the US far more damaging to India’s image as a major drug supplier than earlier crises involving cough syrup-related deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan Are. Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmaxil) said in an interview.
On February 2, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned against using Global Healthcare Pharma’s eye drops and Delsum Pharma’s artificial tears after 55 patients suffered adverse events, including blindness, and one death was registered. done. The Indian pharma industry is facing a credibility crisis after the WHO said in October that dozens of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan had died due to contaminated cough syrup manufactured by Indian drug makers. edited excerpts,
How do you view the eye drop controversy?
The current eye drop issue exposed by the US FDA and CDC is a major blow to the Indian pharmaceutical industry. It may not be an immediate financial loss, but we need to understand India’s image as the “pharmacy of the world”, especially (after the last three incidents in the last four-five months).
These three incidents are very harmful for India. Previously, there have been some voluntary recalls and import alerts of products due to technical problems, but deaths have never occurred in the US. So, we can’t brush it off.
Will America’s warning on Indian medicines affect other countries as well?
Whenever we talk to international agencies, governments and consumers about the credibility/potential of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, we always say that 30% of our exports are going to the US, and 52% of our exports to the US/European market. Going to the union. and 55% for highly regulated markets. So, whatever happens at the US FDA level, it will create a lot of trouble for India. The entire international media, especially in the US, is highlighting this issue.
In the last two-three years and during Kovid, we have come across many challenges. We are doing an excellent job telling the world that we are doing an excellent job, but the recent incidents, including the eye drop issue, have badly tarnished the image of Indian Pharma despite our significant contribution in safeguarding the healthcare system in the world. are going to do
Why are Indian made medicines being touted as “poor quality”? Where is the escape route?
We cannot generalize about quality and efficiency based on these incidents. I think fact-finding is not the solution. We need to reach out to these people.
For example, in the case of eye drops – the US FDA and CDC issued alerts and Uzbekistan, Gambian and WHO officials alleged that these deaths were linked to our drugs. Hence, there is a need to open a dialogue with them. Regulators need to be proactive.
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