New Delhi: The Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC), the advisory committee formed by the Central Government to advise the Central and state governments on matters that require uniform implementation of drug laws across the country, has once again sought the State drug regulators to share the information on Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) drugs data periodically and in a timely manner.
DCC in its 64th meeting held in New Delhi on June 19, while considering the action taken report of the previous meeting, was apprised that only few States are sending the NSQ data on monthly basis despite repeated requests to submit the data in a timely manner in prescribed format.
“All the States were sensitised to look into the matter and to send the NSQ data periodically and in a timely manner, so as to publish the same on the website for information of all the stakeholders,” said the Committee.
It may be noted that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), while reporting the list of NSQs declared on a monthly basis across the country, both by the central organisation and by the State drug controllers, has been declaring that a majority of the States has not been submitting the NSQ data on a monthly basis despite request from the Drugs Controller General (India) earlier this year. This has been the situation from the month of April, during when the CDSCO started publishing State-wise NSQ data.
For instance, in August, the CDSCO has said that State Drugs Licensing Authorities of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal have not submitted any data in respect of the Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) Alert for the Month of July, 2024 as per DCG(I) Circular dated February 9, 2024.
The Union Territories which failed to submit the data include Delhi, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar, Dadar and Nagar Haveli; Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep.
Besides, NSQ data was not received as per the format in Excel sheet prescribed by the DCGI’s circular from the State Drugs Licensing Authorities of Karnataka and Jharkhand for the month of July, 2024.
The DCC has in the past requested the State drug regulators to submit the reports on NSQs and Spurious Alerts in a timely manner with the Central drug regulator, in order to ensure better reporting standards and curbing the menace of spurious and NSQ drugs in the market.
The 63rd DCC meeting held at the end of January, this year, also noted that only a few states are sharing the NSQ data with the central authority on a monthly basis and called for all the States to share the data periodically and in a timed manner for publication on the website.
The DCGI during the meeting highlighted the concerns with respect to multiple NSQ drugs manufactured by the same manufacturer, and the need to watch such repeated offenders in future.
The drug regulator sensitised all the States to look into the matter regarding any difficulties and to send the NSQ data periodically and in a timely manner, so that the information can be compiled and published on the website for the attention of all the stakeholders.
The central government has been tightening the regulatory scrutiny on the quality standards of the drugs in the market following several reports last year regarding issues related to the standard of drugs manufactured in the country both in the domestic and in the international market last year. The Centre also initiated joint risk based inspections in manufacturing units across the country in order to improve the image of the country as the supplier of quality drugs. Interestingly, the CDSCO has stopped releasing data related to spurious drugs declared across the country from the April reports released in May.
