In his 2018 paper decoding the ban on another 328 FDCs by the Indian government, Deepesh Vendoti – a medical doctor by training and a public health management graduate from Yale University – explains that irrational Fixed dose drug combinations (FDCs) are those that fail to offer adequate therapeutic response to successfully kill the bugs, instead helping them develop resistance to the FDCs. Over a period of time, the bugs gain capabilities to survive against even the correct drug regimens as well as rational FDCs. Vendoti notes that there are various factors for the use of FDCs in India such as, “aggressive commercial and at times irrational outlook from the pharmaceutical companies, lapses of regulatory agencies, negligence among medical practitioners and pharmacists and ignorance of both rural and urban public taking non-prescription-based medications either through unqualified practitioners or as self-medication.” He observes that despite some checks and balances introduced by the government in 2005, there was a massive spike in regulatory agencies approving FDCs between 2005-11.
Arman Khan, ‘The Rise and Rise of Antibiotic Abuse in India’, VICE
