Need for mandatory drug testing

That our general lack of a scientific approach in dealing with all sorts of issues and problems extends to even the most vital subject of public health comes out clearly from a recent press report.
It points out that more than 90 percent of drugs sold in Pakistan are not required to undergo mandatory clinical trials.
The concerned authorities simply register all those medicine the sale of which is allowed in the US, EU or Japan.
The assumption, of course, is that these are the most developed societies and, therefore, whatever they regard as good for human health should be good for us too. But it is not safe to rely on this assumption in all cases.
True, the developed countries observe high standards of testing. The food and drug administration, FDA, in the US in particular has a rigorous system of putting all drugs through lengthy trials before approving them for marketing.
Still, there have been instances where approved drugs have been found to cause grave health hazards.
Back in the 1950s a commonly prescribed drug in Europe, Thalidomide, caused a major scandal after it was discovered that many expectant mothers who took the drug gave birth to babies with serious deformities.
These children came to be linked forever to the source of their misfortune and were called Thalidomide Babies.
Regrettably, there are a number of drugs that were banned in the developed countries a long time ago for their harmful effects, but some unscrupulous pharmaceutical multinational companies continue to dump them on unsuspecting consumers in this country.
The sale of banned drugs has been a matter of much concern to the medical community. Not too long ago, the issue had generated a heated public controversy.
The health authorities had responded by saying that they had removed these drugs from the national pharmacopoeia, and that it was the responsibility of the pharmaceutical companies and the sales people to remove the same from the market.
If those in charge have failed to stop the sale of banned drugs, it is too much to expect that they will consider testing each new drug for its potential injurious effects on human health.
Yet there is a strong need for the health authorities to pay attention to the responsibility of testing the foreign approved drugs for their local suitability.
They must also see to it that the multi-national pharmaceutical companies follow practices that are compatible with international standards.
These companies must also be forced to strictly comply with bans that they observe in their respective countries of origin.
The health authorities in Pakistan must realise that it is not enough to announce the names of drugs that have been excluded from the national pharmacopoeia; they need to ensure compliance at every step.
The lists of all such medicines must be circulated among doctors as well as drug store owners so that they do not prescribe or sell them unknowingly.
It is about time these important health issues will treated with the seriousness they demand.