Recast policy seeks to redefine drugs Goes to cabinet this week

Shamsul Huda | Published: October 19, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Clinical trial and bioequivalence test of medicines, pharmaco-vigilance, bioequivalence study and a new drug definition encompassing vaccines and insulin are the salient features of a recast national drug policy going to the cabinet this week.Â Â Â Â
Officials said the draft review of the national drug policy that includes some new chapters accommodating the changes would be placed before the cabinet for its nod.
The policy update is aimed at helping the pharmaceutical industry flourish and increasing exports from the sector.
The government took the initiative to review the drug policy three years back, in a bid to streamline the lifesaving sector.
It faced some legal problems in the initial stages, but, after removal of the legal barriers, the review has gathered pace.
An official at the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) said the draft would be sent to the ministry after final scrutiny at a meeting in the DGDA in presence of the review-committee representatives on October 20.
The DGDA official said the government had taken the initiative to incorporate chapters on clinical trial, bioequivalence tests, pharmaco vigilance, bioequivalence study and new drug definition in the policy to help the pharmaceutical industry grow. MM Neazuddin, secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), said they would send the draft to the cabinet within the current week.
The MOHFW secretary further said: "We have finalised the draft."
Md. Nasser Sharear Zahedee, president of Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Society (BPS), said the government drafted the review rationally as it has consulted the stakeholders.
He appreciated it as a good step taken for the first time as a proposal has been made in the draft policy to bring health-related foods and cosmetics under the drug office.
If it happens, there would be a partial coordination between the food and drug offices like in the US and other developing countries.
Currently, as per the physicians' advice, patients use different food supplements and use cosmetics and these are widely being used for treatment.
The BPS president said currently vaccines and drugs were being manufactured locally and they were not still mentioned in the existing drug policy.
"So, in the review policy there is a proposal to give a new drug definition for Bangladesh."
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