New Delhi: Indian Health Ministry earlier this week has been banned 344 fixed-dose combinations in the country as for the safety purpose. Currently, a new list of 1,200 fixed-dose combinations has been sent for probe by Drug Controller General of India  to the panel that banned about 350 drugs last week.

FDC are drugs which contain two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients in fixed proportion in a individual pill.

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation official said, “Under the irrational category, there were 963 FDCs, out of which 350 have been announced, and the list has been dismantled. We have moved to the ‘require further deliberations’ category, where the final list is expected to come in six months,”

They added, “The DGCI has now submitted the “B” list to the Kokate committee. Out of the 1,200 FDCs mentioned in the list, 8-10%, i.e. around 120 drugs, would fall under the banned category.As per estimate, each FDC has at least 5 to 10 brands in the market, which means around 1,200 more drugs are likely to be banned,”

CK Kokate said,“We are not against any product or brand. We are only siphoning off the irrational combinations,”