Last Updated on February 24, 2023 by The Health Master
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi as the new Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), an official release stated on February 22.
The DCGI charge has been given to Raghuvanshi, who is currently the Secretary-cum-Scientific Director at the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, for a two-year period ending on February 28, 2025.
According to the press release, the appointment was made at “Level 14 of the Pay Matrix” on a “short term contract basis” and was effective “from the date of his assumption of charge of the post until his attaining the age of superannuation on 28.02.2025, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”
Raghuvanshi will be replacing PBN Prasad, who was given an interim charge of DCGI last week. On February 16, Prasad, who previously served as the Joint Drug Controller for the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), was appointed as the DCGI for a brief period ending on February 18.
When V G Somani‘s three-year term expired in August of last year, Prasad took over. He was, however, given two extensions of three months each.
Raghuvanshi, the new full-time DCGI, was recommended for the top post by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which had conducted an interview of the probable candidates and assessed their profiles.
The UPSC informed the Union health ministry last month that Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi should be appointed to the position of Drug Controller (India) on a short-term contract basis “on the basis of assessment of bio-data of the eligible officers received…and after holding personal talks with them on January 27.”
The role of DCGI holds significance as the occupant of the post is the head of CDSCO, which is the agency in charge of ensuring the quality of medicines, new drugs and vaccines, and monitoring related-clinical trials.
Brief introduction
Dr Raghuvanshi has completed his Bachelors and Masters from IIT-BHU (Formerly IT-BHU), Varanasi and PhD from National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi.
His PhD is in the area of Extended Release Formulation of Vaccines, a project to help reduce the number of injections required to be given for complete immunization. He also underwent the ISB-Kellogg Global Advanced Management Programme.
He worked for seven years at NII, he moved to join the leading Indian multinational pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. There he worked for development, registration and launch of NDDS, generics and branded generics in various global markets.
After having spent 12 years with Ranbaxy Laboratories, he moved to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, Hyderabad. During his 11-year tenure at Dr. Reddy’s Labs, he spent the first eight years developing NDA products for the US market. In this role, he successfully led the CMC team to get six products approved in the first review cycle by the US drug regulator.
During this tenure, he had the opportunity of multiple face to face interactions with USFDA which provided in depth understanding of working of global regulatory agencies.
Apart from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Dr Raghuvanshi has also had face to face interactions with regulatory agencies of UK, South Korea, Sweden, Romania etc.
He was in different roles of establishing an R&D Team for markets like India, China, Russia and other Emerging Markets in the space of Pharmaceutical Product Innovation/ Differentiation, registration and launches in the last three years at Dr Reddy’s Lab.
He is widely travelled throughout the world and has worked with team members and partners in countries like USA, UK, China, Russia, South Africa, Romania, Sweden, Canada, France, Australia and Japan.
According to his profile with the IPC, Dr Raghuvanshi’s expertise lies in dosage form design and development, mainly in the domain of pharmaceutical innovation.
He has been involved in development of different kind of products like oral solids, oral liquids, topicals, injections, nasal sprays, auto-injectors, sublingual, mouth dissolve, extended release and delayed release for global markets.
“More than 200 products developed by him and his teams are currently being sold in India, US Europe and Emerging Markets. Dr Raghuvanshi has 14 granted US patents along with more than 250 published PCTs and Indian Patents.
He has more than 25 publications in peer reviewed journals and has co-authored 6 chapters in books. He has been visiting faculty at NIPER – Hyderabad and IIT-BHU and has taught students of NIPER-Mohali,” it says.
He is a regular speaker at different International and National conferences on Pharmaceutical Innovation. For his contribution, Dr Reddy’s Labs has twice awarded him with “Dr Reddy’s Excellence Award”. Leadership development has been his passion and many of his team members mentored by him are holding leadership roles in Indian and global pharmaceutical companies.
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