New Drug Transit Rules in the Works to Ensure Safer Meds

CDSCO is developing an action plan to combat substandard and spurious medical products

- Priyanka Sharma

India is working on new rules to ensure that medicines purchased by customers are safe and haven't lost their efficacy during transit from manufacturing units to pharmacies. Proposed new guidelines also call for clear traceability rules for everyone handling these medicines, starting from their origin to their user, to prevent spurious and substandard drugs entering the supply chain, said two government officials aware of the development.

Currently, the rules are lax about storage during transit and are not mandatory, leading to concerns about their quality. A special committee, chaired by India's apex drugs regulator—Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)—met recently and discussed the draft rules.

These propose that each stage of packaging must have printed 2D barcodes along with legible text containing important details including the unique product code, batch number, expiry date, manufacturing date, and a serial number. This will help track medicines through their transit journey.