Drug authority’s new website is launched

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) has finally launched a comprehensive website, on the model of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website.

Separate links have been provided for manufacturers, professionals and the public, and the website contains information about the import of medicines.

In May this year, a team from United States Pharmacopeia recommended that Pakistan move towards an automated system for inspection of medicines and factories, in order to attain membership to the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme and avoid the inspection of Pakistani medicines in 49 countries.

Drap did not, however, have a comprehensive website, which is a major step towards automation.

The team said that with an automated system, it will become possible to check if a company’s medicines have been rejected in the past.

Companies sometimes apply for medicines which have already been rejected but with a different name.

Drap spokesperson Akhtar Abbas said that the previous website was not made as per the requirements of the drug regulatory authority.

“We used to receive complaints from within and without the country about the website as it was difficult to understand. So we looked at the websites of various regulatory authorities, and decided to follow the FDA’s model. All stakeholders will be able to understand it and get the information they need from the various links provided,” he said.