Date:07/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/07/stories/2006070704390100.htm

Back Maharashtra FDA gets third chief in 3 years

P.T. Jyothi Datta

Mumbai , July 6

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has got a new Commissioner, the third in three years - a track record that unsettles the pharmaceutical industry, as it has to build bridges with the State regulatory authority with every change at the helm.

Mr Amitabh Chandra has taken charge as Commissioner of the FDA from July 1, following a recent reshuffle of bureaucrats. His predecessor, Mr Ramesh Kumar, has been shifted to head the Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (SSIDC).

Maharashtra's FDA has always found itself in the thick of nation-wide controversies, from finding worms in chocolates to questioning the claims of baby oils.

And true to its character, Mr Kumar too was not without his share of controversy.

Mr Kumar had questioned the therapeutic claims of food supplements and nutraceutical products and ordered manufacturers of these products to get drug licenses. This, however, was nixed by higher authorities in the State.

But in doing so, the former FDA Commissioner put his finger on another raw nerve. Nutraceuticals have always oscillated between being a food or a drug. The new integrated food law, though, seeks to bring nutraceuticals under its purview.

In May 2005, Mr Kumar had taken charge from Mr A. Ramakrishnan, who had stirred-up the "misbranding" controversy regarding baby oils and put corporates like Johnson and Johnson, Wipro, and Emami, in the dock.

Mr Ramakrishnan, in turn, had assumed office in July 2004, replacing the then Commissioner, Mr Uttam Khobragade, famous for raising the worms-in-chocolates issue.