Significance of GMP in Manufacturing Genuine Medicines

When a medicine is prepared, it has to be prepared from the same raw material, by same methods & has to follow same guidelines as laid in HPI/ GHP/HPUS, irrespective of the place where it is prepared. Then why is there variation in results of same product from different manufacturing units? Why do people say that homoeopathy acts slowly and opt for another treatment in between although you have prescribed the similimum?
Strictly following the guidelines and sticking to them throughout the manufacturing process determines the quality of medicine.
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) is a strong supporter of stringent GMP guidelines, without which it claims it would be impossible to ensure that all drugs have been manufactured to the same standards.
W.H.O. identifies a number of possible risks which can occur when GMP guidelines for pharmaceuticals are not correctly implemented. These include the contamination of manufactured products, damage to public health which may lead to fatalities, and even incorrect labeling which could lead to patients receiving the wrong medication. There is also a risk that the incorrect levels of an active ingredient could be present in medicines, causing treatment to become ineffective or creating adverse effects.
According to the WHO, the implementation of GMP guidelines is “an investment in good quality medicines. This will improve the health of the individual patient and the community, as well as benefiting the pharmaceutical industry and health professionals.”
GMP is that part of quality assurance which is essential to ensure that drugs are produced to a consistently high quality. Pharmaceutical manufacturing unit should not only be GMP certified but should strictly follow the guidelines throughout, right from obtaining the raw material till the finished goods being dispatched. GMP guidelines should be implemented at all stages of the manufacturing process to eliminate the possibility of risks that may not be detected during clinical trials. If GMP guidelines are not correctly implemented, there is a risk that poor quality and substandard pharmaceuticals could make it on to the market and potentially cause damage to the health of members of the public. Poor quality medicines also cause governments and individuals to waste their money.
This is the important aspect which cannot be ignored. The quality should never be compromised at any step. These guidelines are needed to be followed in order to maintain the Safety, Quality and Consistency of the medicine.
What Hahnemann has to quote about Genuine Medicines?
In §264, Hahnemann says,
The true physician must be provided with genuine medicines of unimpaired strength, so that he may be able to rely upon their therapeutic powers; he must be able, himself, to judge of their genuineness.
Physicians must be certain of the quality of their medicine.  The job of the physician doesn’t end at the prescription of the similimum. It is the duty of the physician to provide his patient with the genuine medicine to relieve him from his suffering. The medicine should be such whose therapeutic powers are not altered and should possess the curative power on which the physician can rely completely.
Further in §265 he states,
It should be a matter of conscience with him to be thoroughly convinced in every case that the patient always takes the right medicine and therefore, he must give the patient the correctly chosen medicine prepared moreover, by himself.
In today’s era it’s very inconvenient for physicians to collect different herbs from various parts of the world, store them as well as prepare medicines and dispense them on their own. So for this they completely rely upon pharmaceutical companies. The responsibility of providing genuine medicines lies on the shoulders of the pharmaceutical company.
The need of the hour is to provide people with International quality medicines at Indian affordable prices and B.Jain is fulfilling this need with Indian & Canadian GMP.
Author: Dr Bharti Gulati