A pharmaceutical industry leader has urged India to crack down on over-the-counter sales of antibiotics, warning that lax controls risk undermining the country’s global credibility as a pharma hub.

“India must urgently stop the over-the-counter sale of antibiotics,” Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) Director-General Anil Matai told CNBC-TV18, calling the practice one of the biggest threats to public health.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Matai clarified that antibiotics are “precision drugs” and should never be dispensed without a prescription. “Antibiotics are precision drugs — they should never be available over the counter,” he said.

Matai linked the misuse of antibiotics directly to the alarming rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) — a crisis India is experiencing m

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