What is DRAP? Pakistan's medicine regulator explained
DRAP, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, is the federal body that decides which medicines can be sold in Pakistan, who can make or import them, and what happens when something goes wrong. It was created by the DRAP Act, 2012, and enforces the Drugs Act, 1976. Mehfooz Dawa is one of its programmes.
What DRAP does
| Function | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Registration | Every medicine legally sold here has a DRAP registration number printed on the pack. |
| Licensing | Manufacturers and importers must be licensed and inspected. |
| Pricing | Administers the drug pricing policy; the maximum retail price is printed on the pack. |
| Quality control | Coordinates testing of market samples through drug testing laboratories. |
| Recalls and alerts | Publishes recall and rapid alerts for failed or fake products. Search them here. |
| Pharmacovigilance | Collects reports of side effects to spot safety problems. |
| Track and trace | Runs Mehfooz Dawa, so packs can be verified by serial number. |
What DRAP does not do
Retail pharmacies are licensed and inspected mainly by provincial drug control departments, which also employ drug inspectors who take market samples. So a complaint about a particular shop may be handled provincially, while a problem with a product or batch goes to DRAP.
DRAP and Mehfooz Dawa
Mehfooz Dawa is DRAP's track and trace programme. Manufacturers print a GS1 DataMatrix on each pack and upload the serial numbers; patients and pharmacies can then check a pack against that record. Read our full Mehfooz Dawa guide or how to check a medicine.
Official contact points
DRAP's main website is dra.gov.pk and the track and trace portal is drugtrace.dra.gov.pk. Note that MehfoozDawa.pk is an independent site and not part of DRAP.
Questions people ask
What is the full form of DRAP?
Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.
When was DRAP established?
DRAP was established under the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Act, 2012, taking over drug regulation from the federal health ministry's drugs control organisation.
Where is DRAP headquartered?
In Islamabad, with field offices in major cities across the country.
Does DRAP set medicine prices?
DRAP administers the federal drug pricing policy and processes price fixation for registered medicines; the maximum retail price is printed on each pack.
