Medicine

The Medicines Control Council applies standards laid down by the Medicines and Related Substances Act, (Act 101 of 1965) which governs the manufacture, distribution, sale, and marketing of medicines. The prescribing and dispensing of medicines is controlled through the determination of schedules for various medicines and substances. The MCC operates through external experts who are members of Council Committee structures. Most experts evaluate data sets submitted by the pharmaceutical industry for purposes of registration. Many of these evaluators are from various academic institutions, mainly medical and pharmacy schools. The office of the Registrar provides administrative and technical support to Council and its activities. The Registrar is also an executive secretary to Council. The Registrar’s office is a Chief Directorate/Cluster, Food Control, Pharmaceutical Trade & Product Regulation, within the Department of Health. There are four Directorates, which are largely responsible for co-ordination and execution of various activities. The cluster is, therefore, secretariat to the Council. The staff complement of the Cluster includes doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians, other scientists and administrative staff. A certain amount of technical evaluation of generic medicines is performed in-house. It is anticipated that this will increase over time as use of generic medicines increases, in line with government […]