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A high powered Task Force, constituted by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) in December 2014, on 'Development of Manufacturing Capabilities in each Medical Vertical in Pharmaceutical Production' has asked the government to enhance access to safe and affordable medicines to address the burden of communicable and non communicable diseases (NCD).
“Cost-effective medicines to treat both types of diseases are available in India, yet they remain inaccessible and unaffordable to many who need them. Government needs to take up the responsibility to provide needed medicines in the public sector at affordable prices and in the required quantities. Scaling up manufacturing of medicines is not a hindrance for the robust domestic pharma industry players in India”, the Task Force in its recommendation to the government said.
The Task Force, headed by secretary, DoP, was constituted by the government to identify the gaps in production of drugs, vaccines, etc. in various therapeutic categories and to suggest remedial action. The Task Force consisted of representatives of various government departments and various industry associations.
The Task Force was also asked to identify focus areas for development of manufacturing capabilities in the respective medical vertical keeping in mind the specificities of each medical discipline; identify the gaps in domestic manufacturing in these verticals and suggesting ways to overcome them; also to identify the issues and support required from different government agencies and departments for achieving the manufacturing capabilities and filling the gap areas, if any, in each medical vertical.
In its rather long report submitted to the government recently, the Task Force asked the government to encourage Public Procurement and Co-Operative Purchase Programmes for ensuring availability and affordability of drugs prepared in consultation with Communicable Disease Control Programme Managers. Government, in collaboration with the private sector, should give greater priority to treating chronic diseases and improving the accessibility of medicines to treat them. Important mechanisms for providing sustainable access to both type of diseases include the development and use of evidence based guidelines for the treatment, efficient procurement and distribution of these medicines to be in place for effective management of communicable and non communicable diseases, it said.
On the regulatory side, government should facilitate faster land acquisition, environmental clearance, single window concept etc. to promote /enhance manufacturing capabilities. Setting up Centers of Excellence to address issues of standard, proficiency testing and training of manpower of desired expertise in the area of regenerative medicines and much needed financial support in R&D will go a long way in discovery of new drugs, the report further said.
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