India-made drugs for poorer nations inferior, says US think tank study – The Economic Times
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India-made drugs sold in Africa are inferior and of poorer quality than those sold in India and other middle income countries, alleges a new paper by an US think-tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the findings of which are scheduled to be announced in a briefing at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
The paper by Roger Bate, an economist and a visiting scholar with AEI which claims to have tested 1,470 samples of India-made drugs collected from different cities across the Africa, India and five other middle-income countries, alleges that Indian drug makers produce different quality drugs for different markets. The study, focused on antibiotics and tuberculosis drugs, accuses Indian pharma companies of cutting corners on the quality of drugs meant for poorer countries with non-existent or under-developed regulatory framework.
Interestingly, this scathing attack on the quality of the Indian drugs and drug makers comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the US. Top Indian drug makers raised doubts on the intention and timing of such a study.
Read more – The Economic Times