Strive for global recognition for Indian Pharmacopoeia: Health Minister

India has become ‘pharmacy of the world’ by specialising in generic medicine formulation, says Mansukh Mandaviya

Pharmacopoeia is important to develop a Swasthya and Samrudh Bharat, to maintain standard quality of our medical products — vaccines, medicines, equipment etc. and to keep an eye on the effect of these medicines on patients, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday. The Minister released the 9th edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) at Vigyan Bhawan and added that the country should work towards getting the IP acknowledged and appreciated worldwide.

Stating that India had become the “pharmacy of the world” by specialising in generic medicine formulation and manufacturing, and by supplying affordable medicines to the world, the Minister said there was still the need to strengthen research in the pharmaceuticals sector. “Till today, four countries — Afghanistan, Ghana, Nepal and Mauritius — have accepted IP as a book of standards. We should make a road map and move forward so that more countries accept our pharmacopoeia,’’ he said.

Highlighting the role of the government at the international level, Dr. Mandaviya said the world had started recognising us and giving importance to our work and accepting it. “We should focus on how our pharmacopoeia can take advantage of this — based on our strength in indigenous medicines,’’ he said.

Pointing out that India is the world’s largest supplier of generic medication and accounts for 20% of the worldwide supply of generics by volume, the Minister said that during COVID pandemic, India had delivered accessible and affordable vaccines to 150 countries.

“While delivering vaccines and other generic medicines to so many countries, we have never compromised with the quality and standards or delivered sub-standard or spurious drugs. India has earned global accolades as a result of this”, he added.

The IP is published by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It prescribes the official standards for drugs produced and/or marketed in India and thus contributes to the control and assurance of the quality of the medicines. The standards of the IP are authoritative and legally enforceable. It intends to help in the licensing of manufacturing, inspection and distribution of medicines in our country.

IP 2022 contains a total of 92 new monographs, including 60 chemicals, 21 vitamins, minerals, Amino acids, fatty acids etc., 3 biotechnology-derived therapeutic products, 4 human vaccines, 2 blood and blood-related products, 2 herbs and herbal-related products, and 7 phytopharmaceutical ingredient category monographs. This has led to the total number of 3,152 monographs in the current edition of IP. In addition, 12 new general chapters have been introduced. Several monographs and general chapters have also been revised to update them as per current global requirements and to harmonise with other pharmacopoeias. The harmonisation of standards with global standards is expected to help IP getting recognised and accepted in foreign countries.