FDA head says working with India to improve drug quality, safety

[February 18, 2014]   MUMBAI (Reuters) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with Indian regulators to enhance the quality and safety of drugs made there, the FDA's Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said on Tuesday.

Hamburg also urged Indian regulators to work closely with their foreign peers.

Hamburg was speaking to reporters at the end of a visit to India which follows FDA decisions to ban the shipment of drugs to the United States from plants of leading Indian drugmakers including Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Wockhardt Ltd.

During a visit that started on February 10, Hamburg met the Indian drugs regulator and health ministry officials as well as executives of local drugmakers.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Zeba Siddiqui; editing by Christopher Cushing and Miral Fahmy)

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