India to Soon Amend Existing Laws to Allow Online Sale of Medicines
India to Soon Allow Online Sale of Medicines.
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India will soon allow online sale of medicines after amending the existing Drugs and Cosmetics Act. The government is working towards a framework for the sale of select medicines through the online route, S Eswara Reddy, Joint Drugs Controller at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) told journalists at the sidelines of an industry event.
“Proposals under the new Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 2016 allow for sale of non-narcotic, non-psychotropic through the online route. The CDSCO is in favour of having a negative list of medicines that cannot be bought online within the Amendment to the existing Act,” he said.
The CDSCO is the arm of the government tasked with regulatory control over the import of drugs, approval of new drugs and clinical trials, and approval of certain licences as the Central Licence Approving Authority.
Promoting E-Pharmacies in India
Currently the regulatory framework for ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products including medicines, medical devices, in-vitro medical devices, stem cells, regenerative medicines, clinical trial/investigation, etc. is provided for in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The existing law does not allow the sale of medicines without a certified prescription from a medicinal practitioner. Further the law has no mention of online retailing for medicines.
The CDSCO had initiated crackdowns on online pharmacies since January this year in a bid to regularise medicine retailing. The government is now in the process of updating the existing law to allow proper tracking and monitoring of sales of drugs.
Signalling that the proposed changes to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act are in their final leg, KB Aggarwal, Additional Secretary (Food and Drugs), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare noted, “We hope to complete the initial consultations of the proposed changes to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act by July 28. The government is working towards guidelines for e-pharmacies.”
India is currently one of the largest manufacturers of pharmaceutical products in the world with an annual production worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore. Of this, over 55 percent is exported to other countries.