Four countries accept IP as book of standard

In a bid to increase its efforts towards recognition and acceptance of IP in foreign countries, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) has submitted proposals to various countries through Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Ministry of External Affairs, according to a statement by IPC.

The statement said that it is a matter of delight to share that in pursuant to sincere efforts and guidance provided by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare to get IP recognised in foreign countries, IP has been accepted as a book of standards in a total of four countries with details as appended below:

• Afghanistan: IP has been recognised formally by the National Department of Regulation of Medicines and Health Products of the Ministry of Public Health of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and also will be used based on the requirement as reputable pharmacopoeia in the laboratory of medicines and health products quality. With this, a new beginning has been made as Afghanistan has become the first country to recognise the IP.
• Ghana: IP is considered as an approved reference when its monograph compares with the monographs in recognised pharmacopoeias in the Fourth Schedule of the Public Health Act.
•  Nepal: IP is recognised as the book of standards in Drugs Category Rules 1986 of Nepal. As per the list of pharmacopoeia or encyclopedia related to the category of drugs under Schedule 1 (related to Rule 5) of the Drugs Category Rules 1986, “Pharmacopoeia of India” published by the Ministry of Health of Government of India has been included at Sr. No. 3.
• Mauritius: In order to include IP in the standards of pharmaceuticals authorised in Mauritius, Section 2 of the Pharmacy Act 1983 has been amended through Section 50 of the legal supplement published in August 2020 and in the definition of “specified standards” of the Section 2 of the Pharmacy Act, the word “or European” has been deleted and replaced with the words “European or Indian.”

Accordingly, the amended section reads as “specified standards” means such standards as are specified in the British, French, US, European or India Pharmacopoeia, the statement added.

Efforts are on to add more countries in the list and stakeholders are encouraged to take advantage of these recognitions, the statement stated.

In addition to it, with a view to further strengthen the standards of the drugs in India, IPC is releasing new, 9th edition of IP (IP 2022) on 1st July, 2022. Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, will be releasing the new edition. The event will be hosted at Vigyan Bhawan, Maulana Azad Road, as per another statement by IPC.

It is expected that publication of the 9th edition of IP will make a big contribution in improving and ensuring the quality of medicines and overall strengthening of the drugs regulation in India, said the statement.

To mark the occasion of publication and release of the IP 2022 on 1st July, IPC is also organising a one-day scientific conference on the theme of ‘Addressing Medicine Quality for Future.’ Since main users of IP are from pharma industry, the target audience for the conference will be from leading pharma companies, pharma MSMEs, regulatory authorities, industry bodies like IDMA, BDMA, IPA, etc, and academia, the statement concluded.