New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Friday set aside a Central Government order restraining private companies from manufacturing and selling oxytocin drug.
A Bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla observed that the order was “unreasonable and arbitrary” and did not seem to be based on any scientific study.
The court also observed that oxytocin was an essential life saving drug.
The court heard the pleas of Mylan Laboratories’ subsidiary BGP Products Operations GmbH, Neon Laboratories and the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), an NGO, challenging the government decision.
Earlier this year, the government had restricted the manufacture of oxytocin formulations for domestic use to public sector only. The State-run Karnataka Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL) was solely allowed to produce the drug for domestic use.
The decision taken under Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 is aimed at checking the misuse of oxytocin, a reproductive hormone found in mammals that increases the contraction of the uterus during labour and stimulates ejection of milk into the ducts of the breasts.
