Drug sample testing goes hitech in Telangana State

HYDERABAD: Testing of drug samples is all set to go hitech in Telangana, the hub of pharmaceutical industry, thanks to a new initiative by the department of drugs control.

``We have already put in place a system to make the entire process transparent and company neutral to make it speedier and free of corruption,’’ Akun Sabharwal, Director, Drug Control Administration, Telangana told Business Line here.

The e-labs software has been developed by the National Informatics Corporation (NIC) for the department. It will be rolled out completely in the days to come.

Till recently, the drug samples were being collected from the drug inspectors to be tested with the manufacturer’s name intact. ``We found that this was leading to some irregularities. In the new system, the moment a drug sample is collected, manufacturer’s name is removed and a sample number will be allotted with a RFID tag,’’ the official said.

So, the person testing the sample in lab will not know the company’s name and results will be shared online with bar-coding. ``Ours is the first laboratory in the country to use the e-labs software,’’ he said.

The number of samples to be taken for testing has been phenomenally high in the State. For example, last month out of 30 random samples tested in the entire country, 24 drugs were from Telangana, Sabharwal said. Last month, the department had banned 24 drugs as they fell under not of standard quality.

APPROVALS

The approvals and licences for the drug manufacturing have been made easy. There are about 18 licences to be given by the department for pharma manufacturers. ``We have set deadlines ranging from three to fifteen days for different approvals. A provision for self certification has also been provided recently for the pharma companies,’’ he said.

For example, issue of non-conviction certificates to be attached by each pharma company while competing for global tenders has been made easy. ``Our feedback is that this has been very helpful for exporters,’’ he added.

ILLEGAL SALE

There has been a spurt in the inspections by the department to check unauthorised sale of medicines of late. As per law, medicines supplied to Government hospitals and health centres are to be given to patients by Government doctors. They cannot be sold in the market by chemists/druggists. Similarly, physician samples are those which should be given by a doctor to the patient and are not for sale.

``Telangana state-wide inspection of various premises was undertaken to curb malpractice of sale of government supply medicines and physician samples last month and medicines to the extent of about Rs 25 lakh were seized across the state. ``The culprits are being dealt as per law,’’ Sabharwal said.