Companies claim government failed to follow procedure in restricting risky medicines

An Indian court has squashed the central government’s decision to ban 344 fixed dose combination (FDC) medicines, imposed in March 2016.

The Delhi High Court said the government had acted in a ‘haphazard manner’. The court heard 454 petitions from pharmaceutical and healthcare companies challenging the ban. The drug companies argued the decision was taken without following procedures prescribed in India’s Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

The court noted that the government had not consulted the Drugs Technical Advisory Board or the Drugs Consultative Committee but had acted on the advice of a ‘technical committee’, which, it said, violates the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

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