Gambia Financial News
30.06 / 18:17
20.04 / 00:55
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Pharmaceuticals
Apex drugs regulator urges states to enforce uniform medicine standards
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India's apex drugs regulator has directed state governments to enforce uniform medicine standards to eliminate regional variability in regulatory compliance.In its February directive, reviewed by Mint, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), chaired by the Drugs Controller General of India, Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, wrote that concerns have been raised regarding inconsistencies in the enforcement of drug standards across the country, low conviction rates in cases of drug adulteration, and the need for stringent scrutiny of adulteration in imported pharmaceutical products."All states are advised to take proactive measures to effectively address the issues. You are also requested to strengthen the necessary infrastructure, including the provision of adequate manpower under the State Health Regulatory Excellence Index (SHRESTH),” the letter said.The development assumes significance for India’s $50 billion pharmaceutical market, which is facing a quality crisis after Indian-manufactured cough syrups were linked to over 140 deaths globally, including in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon, due to ethylene glycol poisoning.Mint's emailed queries to the health ministry spokesperson and the DCGI office on 15 April remained unanswered.
02.04 / 01:09
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Manufacturing
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Pharmaceuticals
Regulator may make pharma inspections public as it steps up scrutiny
In a first, India plans to publicly disclose findings from inspections of drug manufacturing units, marking a shift towards greater transparency and quality monitoring, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.According to the proposal being discussed, the country’s apex drugs regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), will publish details of inspected firms and audit recommendations on its website, as India's pharmaceuticals sector faces heightened scrutiny over quality.The plan assumes significance for the country's $50 billion pharmaceutical market in the backdrop of Indian-manufactured cough syrups being linked to over 140 deaths in countries, including Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon, due to ethylene glycol poisoning.The office of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), headed by Rajeev Raghuvanshi, conducts these risk-based inspections (RBI) to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules.“It has been desired that CDSCO may examine the feasibility of displaying brief details of firms inspected under RBI along with the recommendations of the inspection team, after due consideration of legal implications," according to the documents reviewed by Mint. "During such inspections, inspection teams make observations and recommendations based on risk assessment.
06.01 / 00:41
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India plans new bulk drug licence regime, supplier database to fix accountability
Mint.The proposed change aims to build a comprehensive database of bulk drug traders, improve traceability of imported raw materials, over 70% of which come from China, and allow regulators to quickly identify and hold accountable specific dealers involved in the supply of substandard inputs in India’s $50-billion pharmaceutical market.The new mechanism would dismantle the umbrella approach in the current common licensing system for raw materials and finished medicines, give the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) a long-missing registry of nearly 1.2 million bulk drug traders, and significantly strengthen traceability and accountability in the country's pharmaceutical market.The government move comes in the backdrop of India’s reputation as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’ taking a hit due to deaths of children in Uzbekistan, Gambia, Cameroon and India linked to cough syrups manufactured by Indian firms.As per the officials, a draft notification is in the works for this separate licensing regime for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), including bulk drugs and advanced intermediates, which were valued at approximately $3.5 billion in FY25.While the total value for India's total pharmaceutical-related imports—including finished products—for FY24 was approximately $8.2 billion, bulk drugs remain the dominant share of this inflow data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics and commerce ministry shows.India’s API market is projected to reach $38.13 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 8.50% from 2025 to 2034, according to reports by research firms like Market Research Future.“The lack of transparency in the raw material supply chain was highlighted by recent reports of cough syrups
22.03 / 18:41
UPS
MET
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International
Destinations
As pan-India 'BH' moves about, will states be tempted to display local identity even more prominently—a gopuram with TN, maybe?
licence plates “all manner of alphabetical permutations and combinations were on view”. This included JA (Jamaica), WAG (West Africa and Gambia), FM (Federated Malay States), BI (British India), M (Mandatory Palestine), EA (Kenya and East Africa) and SAU (South African Union). ToI explained that the UK allowed drivers from most countries to use their cars without paying any charge for 90 days, but because the US had not signed the relevant international convention: “American cars are required to be registered with British number plates and this is done at the ship’s side.” Licence plate-spotting goes back a while.
19.02 / 23:59
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Manufacturing
Death
testing
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medicines
Pharmaceuticals
India’s apex drug regulator plans to ensure medicine labels carry name of authorized person responsible for the batch
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. To fix accountability, the government is working on a plan to include the name of the person responsible for releasing a batch of medicines under the Drugs Rules, 1945, according to an official familiar with the matter. This comes against the backdrop of growing complaints about counterfeit and substandard drugs circulating in the market.
14.01 / 14:13
Target
Cooper
Mercury
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International
Interpol cracks down on illegal mining in West Africa as police make 200 arrests
Interpol says a major operation targeting illegal gold mining in West Africa has resulted in 200 arrests and the seizure of harmful chemicals, explosives and drugs
28.08 / 04:36
Cooper
security
Barcelona
Refugees
President
country
travelers
Spain's leader starts West Africa tour with agreements to combat people smuggling
Spain’s prime minister has announced a series of agreements with the West African nation of Mauritania to stem a surge in migrants making the dangerous Atlantic journey to the Canary Islands
27.08 / 19:01
MET
President
travelers
rights
boating
Spain's prime minister visits Canary Islands to discuss irregular migration and unaccompanied minors
Spain’s leader has met with the regional president of the Canary Islands to discuss irregular migration as the archipelago struggles to care for thousands of unaccompanied minors who made it there
17.07 / 15:28
Provident
Aware
Sustainability
Trade
Fishing
country
Fish talks at WTO unfair, unbalanced, say small scale fishers
Small-scale fisher organisations from India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ecuador, and Gambia have asked fisheries subsidies negotiations to be kept out of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and said that the ongoing negotiations on curbing overcapacity and overfishing (OCOF) subsidies are “unfair and unbalanced”. They said that the exemptions for small-scale fishers across developing countries is being restricted by imposing irrational conditionalities. The World Forum of Fisher Peoples and World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers have raised concerns at the negotiations which seek disciplines on subsidies such as those for construction, acquisition and modernisation of vessels.
27.06 / 18:19
Manufacturing
Enterprise
Death
testing
medicines
International
Pharmaceuticals
Risk-based audits of drug units to begin from July 1
Raghuvanshi on Thursday said the risk-based inspections based on revised Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act will begin from July 1. «We will make a framework (for the risk-based inspection). We will switch the checklist and the questions which we look at when we go there (for audits),» Raghuvanshi said on the sidelines of an Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) event. Raghuvanshi said there would be surprise inspections, which would take 3-4 days.
25.06 / 22:23
Metro
country
reports
prevention
International
Did Iran smuggle aircrafts out of Lithuania? Why is this a cause for concern?
aircrafts which had taken off from an airport in Lithuania disappeared and were smuggled into Iran. These two aircrafts were flying to Sri Lanka and Philippines. This is not the first time that Iran has smuggled aircrafts into the country. It has been reported by Metro that the two aircrafts changed their path and disappeared after entering the Iranian airspace. Further, authorities in Lithuania prevented a third aircraft from taking off. Iran has been sanctioned by many of the western countries including the US. This incident is alleged to have taken place in February.
20.04 / 14:36
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Election
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testing
Updates
WHO says wider alert on contaminated J&J cough syrup 'likely'
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 1 Polling: Live updates Nigeria's regu
13.01 / 12:35
21.12 / 19:20
Action
Death
Experts
show
information
recommendations
prevention
Who is responsible at drugmakers? Regulator wants to find out
Drugmakers may soon have to identify in-house point persons for authorities to communicate with and hold responsible for breaches, a government communication showed. The apex drug regulator plans to order all drug companies to name a so-called responsible person (RP) who will be accountable for their day-to-day affairs, and serve as a single point of contact for state and central licensing authorities. On 16 December, drug controller general of India (DCGI) Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi ordered the constitution of an expert committee to study the proposal.
11.12 / 08:19
FIVE
Reuters
Manufacturing
Death
country
testing
ventilators
Amid IPC alert on painkiller Meftal; here's the list of 14 drugs banned in 2023
drugscontrol.org. 1. Nimesulide + Paracetamol Dispersible Tablet 2.
08.12 / 20:13
Manufacturing
Death
country
reports
testing
medicines
ET Impact: DCGI asks pharma cos to adhere to production quality standards
DCGI) has issued an advisory stating that pharmaceutical companies are required to strictly abide by conditions stated in their manufacturing licences and prescribed Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure that the products meet parameters of quality, safety and efficacy. The DCGI's move comes a few days after ET reported that industrial excipients are used in manufacturing medicines and over 50 companies manufacturing cough syrups have failed quality tests. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in October last year that the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia from acute kidney injuries might be linked to contaminated cough and cold syrups made by an Indian drug manufacturer. «In order to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of drug formulation, it is of paramount importance that such formulations are manufactured in compliance with the prescribed standards not only in respect of API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) but also various excipients used for manufacturing of the formulations.
04.12 / 10:29
FIVE
Reuters
Manufacturing
Death
country
testing
ventilators
India finds quality issues with cough syrup linked to Cameroon deaths
cough syrup linked to the deaths of at least six children in Cameroon have found unidentified quality issues in at least one of the five samples picked up by authorities, two people familiar with the investigation told Reuters. Riemann Labs is one of three Indian drugmakers whose cough syrups have been linked to the deaths of at least 141 children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since the middle of last year. That has cast a shadow on the quality of exports from India, often dubbed the «world's pharmacy» due to its supply of life-saving drugs at low prices to countries that most need them. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in July that a sample picked up from Cameroon of Naturcold syrup, whose maker India has identified as Riemann, contained as much 28.6% of the toxin of diethylene glycol, compared with an acceptable limit of no more than 0.10%. Indian authorities said they had suspended Riemann's production soon after the WHO alert, citing violations of good manufacturing practices.
28.11 / 18:01
Manufacturing
Enterprise
Death
show
medicines
MSME Pharma companies under the lens over drug quality issues
More than 65% of MSME firms have been found to be manufacturing drugs that are not of standard quality (NSQ), during risk-based inspections of pharma companies conducted since December last year, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Out of the total MSME units inspected, 30% were issued stop production orders (SPO), the person cited above told ET. «Samples of 68% MSME companies have failed. This is alarming,» the person said.
02.11 / 20:37
Williams
Continental
President
country
travelers
Rwanda announces visa-free travel for all Africans as continent opens up to free movement of people
Rwanda announced Thursday that it will allow all Africans to travel visa-free to the country, becoming the latest nation on the continent to announce such a measure aimed at boosting free movement of people
25.09 / 16:05
Provident
Cooper
WhatsApp
band
country
India allows 75,000 tons of non-basmati white rice export to UAE through NCEL
non-basmati rice to Bhutan (79,000 tonnes), Mauritius (14,000 tonnes), and Singapore (50,000 tonnes) through the National Cooperative Exports Ltd (NCEL). "The Government of India has the commitment that in case of food insecure, vulnerable countries and neighboring countries request, it will provide with the required quantity of rice or wheat," he said.
20.09 / 19:41
UPS
Manufacturing
Death
Healthcare
medicines
Pharma companies must adopt revised quality norms: Government
pharmaceutical companies to implement revised Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to improve quality in the face of children said to have died from toxic cough syrup and eye drops that allegedly caused infections. The notification is likely this month, people in the know told ET.
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