Firm on its advocacy for uniform standards for drugs with tracing and tracking system, India chapter of Partnership for Safe Medicine (PSM) is set to launch a pilot project in India to enable patients to get their medicines tested. The move is meant to enhance trust between manufacturers and consumers and find the extent of spurious medicines in circulation in India.

A draft proposed methodology was released at New Delhi on February 15, 2013, for public comments and wide circulation amongst all the stakeholders, prior to its official launch. This proposed innovative initiative will be launched as a pilot to study the extent of spurious and not-of-standards medicines in India and adopt policies to ensure safety and quality in the supply chain.

"This will establish trust on the quality and existing regulatory standards between the manufacturers and the consumers," said Mr PD Sheth, vice president of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

PSM India Initiative has also strongly demanded formulation of global best standards for exported and domestic drugs made available in the supply chain through a robust detection technology to promote universal product identification system under the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and enable consumers to distinguish between spurious and genuine medicines.