Recently, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted manufacturing and marketing licenses for the commercial use of Prussian blue insoluble formulations, developed under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme.
About Prussian blue:
- or potassium ferric hexacyanoferrate is used as a medication to treat Thallium poisoning or radioactive Caesium poisoning.
- It is one of the critical medicines listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for radiological and nuclear emergencies.
Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI):
- DCGI is responsible for the approval of licences for specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines, and sera in India. It also sets standards for the manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India.
- It comes under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme:
- TDF has been established to promote self-reliance in defence technology as a part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
- It encourages the participation of public/private industries especially MSMEs to create an eco-system for enhancing cutting-edge technology capability for defence applications.
- It is an initiative of the Ministry of Defence executed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation meeting the requirements of Tri-Services, Defence Production and DRDO.
