Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw backs move to have separate pharma ministry

She said there is confusion and chaos in the pharma sector due to multi-ministerial control

Leading industrialist Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has backed government's proposal to establish a separate ministry for pharma, expressing hope that it would end the current confusion and chaos in the sector due to multi-ministerial control.

"I think it will, because it's too confused right now. The whole sector is being sort of under the purview of multi- ministerial control. So, I think that is causing a lot of chaos", the chief of Biocon, the country's biggest biotech company told PTI.

Union Fertilisers Minister H N Ananth Kumar in December had said that there would be a separate ministry for pharma and medical devices sector in the next one year.

Mazumdar-Shaw, also Chairperson of the Board of Governors at IIM, Bangalore made out a strong case for adequately staffing the drug control administration.

"Our regulatory standards are pretty high. It's just that they don't have enough people to invigilate. Today, the Drugs Controller is very poorly staffed, and he needs more people, he has been asking for more people. If you don't have more people, how will you carry out all the audits?

"And then it's also a state subject, not Centre either. So, there are some states where quality standards are high, some states where it is low. So, it's a bit of mixed bag", she said.

On perception issue of Indian generic industry not being quality compliant, Mazumdar-Shaw said: "Please understand, quality is a big issue, compliant is a big issue, and India has to build credibility in that front. The only way to deal with perception is to build credibility".

Mazumdar-Shaw further said India's pharmacy colleges need to revamp curricula and also invest in infrastructure and leverage the power of internet to offer best of education standards.