New Delhi: The government is about to introduce a new drug labelling norm since September, in which the drug companies will have to print the generic names in larger and bolder fonts as compared to their brand names.
According to a report published by Moneycontrol.com, in its bid to promote generic medicines, the government will bring in the new regulation on September 13.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has time and again declared that it is mandatory for doctors to prescribe the generic names of medicines. However, it is still far from being practised in a wide scale in the country.
The latest move is expected to promote the usage of generic names of drugs. Currently, almost all pharmaceutical companies print brand names in bigger and prominent fonts as against the drug names.
Speaking on the new norm, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Sunil Sharma told Moneycontrol, “The proper name of the drug or fixed dose combination drug other than fixed dose combinations of vitamin and other fixed dose combinations containing three or more drugs, shall be printed or written in a conspicuous manner which shall be in the same font but at least two font size larger than the brand name or the trade name.”
According to the regulation, the drug names for vitamins and fixed combinations, the brand name should be written in brackets or below the generic name.
The report further states that according to the current set of rules under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, the generic name should be written in a “more conspicuous manner” than the brand name but there is no detailed explanation on it.
Comments
0 comment