New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- New Delhi: The Centre plans to require pharmaceutical companies to clearly distinguish biological medicines (biologics) from synthetic drugs when seeking licences and on packaging through changes to the Drugs Rules, 1945, according to two government officials close to the discussions and documents reviewed by Mint.

The proposed regulatory intervention aims to address ambiguity around drugs, such as semaglutide, that can be produced chemically as well as biologically.

The anti-diabetic and anti-obesity drug can be produced through either chemical synthesis or biological methods such as recombinant DNA (r-DNA) technology. The biological process involves combining DNA from different organisms and inserting it into a h...