Drug port office at BIA soon

It will facilitate faster and easier import and export of pharmaceuticals in State

The Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will soon have a drug port office.

This will facilitate faster and easier import and export of pharmaceuticals, announced Surendra Singh, Drug Controller General of India, Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), here on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Singh said, the issue of establishing a port office had been pending for quite some time. Many pharmaceutical manufacturers in Karnataka were demanding it.

“The drug port office will start functioning in about two weeks time. Earlier, drug/pharma companies had to ship them to Chennai, the nearest zonal office for clearance, inspection, issue of licence and approval. It would result in cost overruns. So, it has been decided to have an office in Bangalore,” he said.

The CDSCO has appointed Manivannan, a senior drug inspector and an assistant drug controller (south zone) to head the port. Based on volumes of trade transacted, additional staff will be deputed to the port office, that will be housed at the BIA.

Singh added, the CDSCO will also establish sub-zonal office in Karnataka. “It has also been decided by the Ministry to upgrade the sub-zonal office at Hyderabad into a full zonal office. Another new sub-zonal office will be established at Chandigarh, to facilitate pharma industry at Himachal Pradesh in the north zone,” he said.

Central presence

Debashish Panda, Joint Secretary (Drugs), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,  said, “This will facilitate fast track inspections and approvals. With lot of drug companies having a manufacturing base in Bangalore, this will cater to their needs. This is part of an overall capacity building exercise being carried out by the Ministry.

“We are also in the process of augmenting human resources across the country.

Karnataka alone has 250 drug manufacturing units. Pharma and bio-tech companies in India are currently manufacturing drugs worth 15 to 18 billion US dollars.

“A 50 per cent of these are being exported to global markets. So, the overall strategy for opening up of our offices in various States is to have an increased Central presence in states, where pharma/drug and vaccine industry is concentrated. It will bring the regulators office to the doorstep of the manufacturers.”

Speaking on the new initiatives of CDSCO, Singh said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is finalising plans to make clinical trials’ registration mandatory. “We are also in the process of a recruitment drive to fill many vacancies by the UPSC route for various entry level posts.”

Pharma zones

Panda said, private developers such as the GMR group have evinced interest to develop pharma zones at airports and sea-ports, for which modalities are being worked out.