KARACHI, May 24: The Senate committee on National Regulation Services (NRS) would name a team by next week that would conduct scrutiny of 500 drug manufacturers to ensure that people were provided quality medicines at economical rates, an official said on Friday.

The process was being initiated in compliance with the current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), he said and added the minister concerned had already informed the Senate about the proposed committee which would comprise officials of the World Health Organisation and an expert each from the four provinces.

Senator Abdul Haseeb, a member of the NRS committee, confirmed that all pharmaceutical companies, including 22 multinationals, would be on the radar of the scrutiny committee.

Dozens of drug manufacturers, he said, were not producing medicines as per the cGMP. “The committee will give manufacturers some time to improve [their operations] and companies failing to deliver will become history,” said the Senator.

The Senate committee, in its meeting on May 22 had decided that prices of all medical products would be controlled except for the “threshold” products as per unit price of these will be identified separately, he added.

“It will likely take at least six months to convince all stakeholders to rationalise rates, and once it comes into effect, the prices of medicine will become economical by 15-80 per cent.”