ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: The US has offered to help Pakistan develop a drug and food legislation and set up a drug regulatory authority to ensure availability of safe, efficacious and quality medicines.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, made the offer during a meeting with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mr Leavitt in a meeting with Health Minister Sherry Rehman expressed his government’s interest in sharing expertise and best practices in the establishment of a drug regulatory authority.

Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry annually exports medicines worth Rs21 billion, but there is not a single manufacturing unit in the country approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.