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Many developing countries are wholly dependent on the importation of starting materials for use in the local production of essential and generic medicines. Starting materials are defined as those materials which are used in the manufacture of a pharmaceutical product or those which come into contact with the product during its manufacture. They may include raw materials, active and inactive ingredients, excipients, propellants, containers and packaging material.
Starting materials often change hands many times before reaching the manufacturer or assembler of the final marketed product and there are many opportunities for the material to undergo relabelling along the distribution and trade chain. As a...