In India, With Our Sleeves Rolled Up
Posted on March 18, 2015 by FDA Voice
By: Howard Sklamberg and Michael Taylor
These facts surprise many people, but roughly 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients, 40 percent of finished drugs, 80 percent of seafood, 50 percent of fresh fruit and 20 percent of fresh vegetables come from outside of the U.S.
Each year, the FDA has to assess millions of products grown, harvested, processed, manufactured and shipped from outside of the U.S. And one of the most impressive examples of how this globalization of production, consumption and trade has altered the regulatory landscape is India.
India is quickly becoming a significant player in the global marketplace, representing an important source of FDA‐regulated products. With a diverse population, highly skilled work force, and favorable economic conditions, India has become an increasingly attractive location for companies to operate.
And with that, Indian regulators have become important strategic partners for FDA. Today, we regularly engage with them on everything from sharing information on clinical trials to collaboratively addressing product safety issues that may harm American consumers.
When Commissioner Hamburg visited the country last year, she remarked that the “rapid globalization of commerce has posed significant challenges to ensuring consumer safety as the number of suppliers entering the U.S. has increased.” On her visit she signed a milestone Statement of Intent between our two countries seeking to “collectively work together to improve the lines of communication between our agencies and work diligently to ensure that the products being exported from India are safe and of high quality.”
We are eager to continue the work she started. And improving the lines of communication of which she spoke is the purpose of our working visit to India. Before the trip we discussed with our teams what we expect from our journey. Our top goal is to listen and learn. We want to understand what challenges the Indian government is facing with regard to drug and food safety. We want to hear from both American companies operating in India, as well as Indian manufacturers. And we want to discuss with our Indian counterparts a number of significant changes in the American regulatory system that affect our relationship.
It is no secret that relationship has been challenged in the recent past by lapses of quality at a handful of pharmaceutical firms. And while our first regulatory responsibility is to protect the American patient and consumer, we are also very willing to collaborate with Indian regulators and other stakeholders to ensure the achievement of highest standards of safety and quality, something we feel only benefits both nations.
We have harvested some of the fruits of this cooperation already. A significant example of collaboration between the U.S. and India occurred in 2012, when a Salmonella outbreak was traced to a manufacturer in India. An FDA inspection confirmed that the tuna product implicated in the outbreak came from the suspect facility, and the Indian government revoked the manufacturer’s license.
In yet another case, FDA’s India office worked with other United States government agencies to inform industry and Indian regulators about issues associated with an import alert for Basmati rice from India. The FDA office shared laboratory procedures for testing of pesticides.
More recently, in November of 2014, as a continuation of FDA’s efforts to strengthen the quality, safety and integrity of imported drugs, the FDA India Office, in collaboration with our Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Office of Compliance and the Office of Regulatory Affairs, held four workshops in India. The workshops were held in partnership with European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Drug Information Association and involved the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, Parenteral Drug Association and Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India. Over 560 participants from the pharmaceutical industry attended the four two-day workshops.
We are confident our trip will yield more examples of such fruitful collaboration, moving the regulatory relationship between two of the world’s largest democracies to the next stage, from the intention to work together, to the ability to work together to solve the complex globalization issues facing both nations.
Howard Sklamberg is FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy
Michael R. Taylor is FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine
