Pharmaceutical Industry Small Units and Quality Control

SMALL-SCALE units in the pharma-ceutical industry has in recent years been a target of criticism, the most serious of which has to do with questions of quality control. It is not surprising that the government should take serious note of the situation. But its latest attempt to deal with the problem is motivated not so much by a sincere con-cern for ensuring quality drugs, but by the need to placate both the consumer and large industry, especially the multi nationals. This ill-thought out and piecemeal approach to quality control will not only be ineffective, but may well worsen the environment for the small producers who contribute 40 per cent of total drug sales turnover in the country, including 17 per cent of the total bulk drug production.