After incidents of overseas deaths, India has made it mandatory for cough syrup exporters to undertake product testing at specified government laboratories from June 1. The test is to be done before getting the shipping permission.
Concerns were raised globally for cough syrups exported by Indian firms after series of alleged deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan.
"India will allow the export of cough syrups only after samples are tested in a government laboratory," said a government notice issued on Tuesday.
“The export of cough syrup shall be permitted to be exported subject to export samples being tested and production of certificate of analysis issued by any of the laboratories, with effect from June 1, 2023," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
The specified central government labs for testing include Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, regional drug testing lab (RDTL - Chandigarh), central drugs lab (CDL - Kolkata), central drug testing lab (CDTL - Chennai Hyderabad, Mumbai), RDTL (Guwahati)] and the NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited drug testing labs of state governments.
According to officials, necessary steps are being taken to ensure smooth implementation of the testing requirement. Ministry of Health would partner with state governments and exporters to ease the process of testing.
Last year, India-made cough syrups were questioned after around 70 deaths were reported in Gambia and 18 in Uzbekistan.
India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally, supplying over 50 per cent of global demand for various vaccines. Globally, India ranks third in terms of pharmaceutical production by volume.
The industry includes a network of 3,000 drug companies and about 10,500 manufacturing units.