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Drug Control Committee (National Drug Policy review function)

parliamentary_committee · partial (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Md Alamgir Hossain
Role
Director General, DGDA (ex-officio chair of Drug Control Committee)
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1982
Legal basis
Drugs and Cosmetics Act 2023 (Act No. 29 of 18 September 2023), which consolidated and replaced The Drugs Act 1940 and The Drugs (Control) Ordinance 1982. The Drug Control Committee is constituted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 2023; antibiotic packaging mandates were incorporated at Section 40(d). Drug pricing authority rests with the Ministry under Section 30 of the same Act. The National Drug Policy 1982 was formulated by an 8-member expert committee appointed by the Ministry of Health on 27 April 1982; the National Drug Policy 2016 followed a similar ad hoc review process.

The Drug Control Committee resumed activity in August 2025 after a gap of nearly 17 months (last prior meeting: March 2024), but no registration decisions were taken at the August 2025 meeting. The committee is under pressure to clear over 1,000 pending drug registration applications before Bangladesh's LDC-status TRIPS waiver expires on 24 November 2026. The national drug policy function is simultaneously implementing the Drug Pricing Method 2026 cost-plus framework for 295 essential medicines and the 25% essential-drug revenue threshold rule for new approvals, both opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

NAMING CLARIFICATION: 'National Drug Policy Committee' is not the formal gazetted name of any single permanent body in Bangladesh's drug regulatory architecture. The functionally equivalent institution is the Drug Control Committee (DCC) under DGDA, which is the standing expert committee constituted under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 2023 (and its predecessor Drugs (Control) Ordinance 1982) to advise the Licensing Authority (DGDA DG) on drug registration, cancellation, and related regulatory matters. Bangladesh's three National Drug Policies (1982, 2005, 2016) and the 2026 essential medicines pricing reform were each driven by ad hoc expert committees appointed by MoHFW, not by a permanently named 'National Drug Policy Committee'. The 2026 exercise used an 18-member task force chaired by Prof Md Shahinul Alam (VC, Bangladesh Medical University). LEGAL BASIS: Drugs and Cosmetics Act 2023 (Act No. 29, 18 September 2023) is the operative statute; it consolidated The Drugs Act 1940 and The Drugs (Control) Ordinance 1982. ESTABLISHED YEAR: Set to 1982, the year of Bangladesh's first National Drug Policy and the formal recognition of a drug policy review committee function under MoHFW. CURRENT HEAD: Md Alamgir Hossain confirmed as DGDA DG by gazette notification 28 April 2026, per TBS News and BSS News (2 independent sources). His predecessor Maj Gen Md Shamim Haider served from 22 October 2024 (Wikipedia DGDA article). Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain chairs the Board of Essential Drugs Company Limited since April 11, 2026 (BSS News). DRUG CONTROL COMMITTEE ACTIVITY: The DCC convened 26 August 2025 after 17 months of inactivity (no meeting since March 2024); no registration decisions taken. Over 1,000 applications pending, including 617 from ~50 firms for biologics. VERIFICATION STATUS 'partial': DCC chair identity for post-Alamgir period unconfirmed in a second independent primary source beyond TBS/BSS; DCC composition list not publicly available; established year for the DCC as a formal standing committee (as distinct from the 1982 ad hoc committee) not independently confirmed. Bangla name (ওষুধ নিয়ন্ত্রণ কমিটি) is the standard Bangla rendering for Drug Control Committee; a specifically named Bangla committee for 'national drug policy' was not found in primary sources.

Sources