Bioavailability is the fraction of an administered dose of drug that reaches the systemic circulation unchanged.

Commissioner Mahesh Zagade said that ‘these are excuses to deny people their right[s] to get medicines at rational prices’. He added that there was also no evidence that the bioavailability content in brand-name medicines was ‘[up] to the mark’. He noted that many large pharmaceutical companies outsourced production of their drugs to the same contractors used for the production of generics, and that this did not mean that these products were ‘substandard or less effective’.

The Commissioner has also urged the Indian Government to require that physicians add a line to prescriptions noting that generics or other cheaper versions are available.

India supplies 20% of all generics globally, exporting to more than 200 countries worldwide. It is therefore important to get the domestic market for generics right and recent governmental policies have been aimed at encouraging growth in the use of generics [1].

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Reference

1.  GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. India supplies 20% of generic drugs worldwide [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2013 May 3]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Reports/India-supplies-20-of-generic-drugs-worldwide

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