Thursday, June 23 2005 15:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Government has decided to revamp the drug regulatory structure in the country and set up an independent authority on the lines of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for quality control of drugs.

Once the regulatory body was put in place, the Government would approach the American FDA for an agreement on mutual approval of clinical trials and drugs, Union Health Minister Anubami Ramdoss announced at the 36th meeting of the Drugs Consultative Committee New Delhi today (Jun 23, 2005).

"The independent drug regulatory authority would be set up in two years. All the strong points of FDA would be replicated in the new structure," he said.

The Minister had visited US recently and the Drug Controller General of India was to leave for the country soon in this connection.

The proposed structure, which will be called Central Drug Administration or National Drug Authority, would have ten different sub-authorities to deal with areas like cosmetics, blood safety, medical equipment, biological products, recombinant products etc, the Minister said.

The step was being initiated on the recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee, which went into the issue of drug safety and spurious drugs.

According to officials the current system, which is guided by he Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, is "old, fragmented and not independent".