- Government drug labs in at least seven states and one union territory have either not conducted impurity tests ever or haven’t performed them as a matter of routine.
- When drug regulators skip impurity tests, they endanger patient health – and distort official estimates of the rates of substandard drugs in India.
- An important, but not well-known, part of this story is the Indian Pharmacopoeia, written by a commission of the same name, that lists all the tests quality-checkers must conduct.
The Wire Science has learnt that government drug labs in at least seven states – Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa – and one union territory, Jammu and Kashmir, have either not conducted impurity tests ever, or haven’t performed them as a matter of routine.
This means the Indian government’s surveillance of medicine quality has a big and critical blindspot. Impurity testing is a core-pillar of quality, Ganadhish Kamat, previously global head of quality at the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, said. Some drug impurities are toxic, which means that not controlling their levels would directly put patient health at risk, he added.
https://science.thewire.in/health/i...t-imprity-test-rare-pharmacopoeia-commission/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...at-you-need-to-know/articleshow/113675696.cms
------ Post added on Dec 17, 2025 at 10:27 AM