Opinion: The Indian pharmaceutical industry is in denial over drug-quality charges
Katherine Eban’s new book, “Bottle of Lies,” has focused a very intense spotlight on the mostly ignored transgressions of the Indian generic pharmaceutical industry in the processes they follow — or all too often don’t follow — to make quality products. This industry, which has rarely been subjected to such rigorous journalistic scrutiny, has lashed back at Eban, attacking her integrity and her work.
The latest salvo comes from Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who calls Eban’s exposé anecdotal, biased, unfair, and unbalanced, and accuses the author of playing up to the poor perceptions of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the country. Shaw did this in a softball interview she gave to an Indian publication in which she is an investor.
Shaw, who owns Biocon Ltd, a pharmaceutical company that has been cited by the United States Food and Drug Administration over the last, is one of the biggest names in the Indian pharmaceutical industry.
