New Delhi, Jan. 9 -- With antimicrobial resistance now a major public health and economic threat, India's top drug regulator is rolling out an overhaul on the development, sale and strict monitoring of antibiotics. The proposed framework, based on a much-awaited report by a top panel of experts, has called for the development of new antibiotics, expediting regulatory approvals, strict prohibition of over-the-counter (OTC) sales, stamping prescriptions to check re-use and developing state-specific software models to track antimicrobial sales in real-time to check antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.

level sub-committee of the Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) has submitted ...