Panel recommends health supplements claiming to cure, mitigate disease be classified as drugs
If accepted, these products would come under the oversight of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) instead of the current regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
According to the TOI report, the committee, led by former health secretary Apurva Chandra, argued that supplements making health claims should undergo stricter scrutiny before licensing. This would also mean harsher penalties for companies making false claims about disease prevention or mitigation.
A key motivation for companies to reclassify certain products from drugs to dietary supplements has been to avoid price regulations. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) controls drug prices to ensure affordability, but it has no authority over pricing once a drug is marketed as a food supplement. The new recommendation would bring these products back under NPPA pricing controls, potentially impacting their cost.
Additional measures proposed include establishing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for supplements and setting up a dedicated monitoring cell to oversee advertising claims related to these products, noted the TOI report.
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