Surprises can be unpleasant

The US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) has made a virtue of surprising Indian generic companies with unannounced inspections of various plants across the country. Such visits have become too frequent, with the American drug regulator catching officials at its Indian counterpart (the Drugs Controller General of India or DCGI) by surprise when, last Thursday, its officials dropped by at the latter's premises unannounced. The US FDA team reached the DCGI office in New Delhi just when its chief, G N Singh, was supposed to address members of the media.