India to set up panel on drug authentication mechanism

India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has started setting up a committee of regulatory officials and drug industry representatives to examine varied track and trace technologies for medicines, according to local press reports.

DoP secretary P D Vaghelamde made the announcement at the second meeting of the Forum of Pharma Associations (FoPA), a group set up last year to improve discussions between the government and the drug industry on key topics, according to a Pharmabiz report.

India currently has two regulatory efforts aimed at medicines traceability, one targeting exports that has had some major teething troubles but has a new system in beta testing, and another for domestic medicines that so far has struggled to get off the ground.