PEW demands thorough review of drug registration process
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Safety and efficacy of some registered drugs questioned
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Thursday asked the government to review process of registration of drugs to ensure transparency which is in the interest of the masses.
Pakistan has become a haven for pharmaceuticals due to weak regulations, repeated artificial shortages of critical drugs and connivance between drug manufacturers, doctors, and authorities, it said.
The pharmaceutical industry has been enjoying a bonanza based on exploitation of patients, dishonest marketing practices, and selling drugs banned in many countries, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He stated that some people are dumping deregistered drugs in the country while some local and multinational companies have been allowed to produce and market banned drugs.
Dr Murtaza Mughal said that selling medicine after changing its name and hiking price by two to five hundred per cent after a slight change in the active ingredients of a drug has become a normal practice.
Changing name and ingredients make it obligatory for a pharmaceutical to get the ‘new’ medicine registered swiftly and push practitioners to prescribe it to patients which has become an effortless process.
The agencies responsible for registering drugs are believed to be under the influence of the pharma companies which could be a reason behind rare examples of deregistration of drugs in Pakistan, he said.
Dr Murtaza Mughal said that the situation has raised questions about the safety, efficacy, cited side effects as well as reaction of drugs registered with the authorities.
The situation will not change and the health of people will remain under risk unless government introduce a strong code of conduct and transparent marketing practice guidelines with zero tolerance for deviations.
Apparently, said Dr Mughal, the government has failed to discharge its duty of safeguarding the rights of the masses therefore the super judiciary should intervene.
