Why Potentially Dodgy Diabetes Drugs Dominate in India
Indian drugmakers like to come up with combos — two meds in one pill. They can make more money that way. And they say it's easier for patients to take one pill than two. But is there a downside?
"India is the diabetes capital of the world!"
That was a headline two years ago in the Times of India. And that's not a case of media hype. India has a huge diabetes problem: nearly 70 million people are grappling with the disease.
India also has a prolific pharmaceutical industry pumping out hundreds of innovative drugs to treat diabetes and other ailments. But researchers say it's unclear how well some of these medicines work, or even if they're safe, because the drugs haven't gone through adequate clinical trials.
"We're really puzzled as to why, the director of the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University in England, "because some of these weren't even approved by the medicines regulator in India."
