Pharma Industry

Pakistan Pharma Industry By Farooq Mubarak & Abdullah Tehseen

AGENDA History. Attention Of Government Crises Current Scenario Economic Drivers ; Growth Rate Problems Pricing Import Categories Of Medicines Produced Steps To Ensure Quality Conclusion

History Of Pharma Industry In Pakistan. During independence, Pakistan had virtually no Pharma Industry.

The traders were engaged in importing medicines from different countries.

Reasons Contributing To Non-Existent Industry. deficiencies of technical know how. shortage of raw materials. lack of quality control.

Attention Of Government 

After recognizing the significance of the industry, Government established two units under PIDB,

1.

Khurram Chemicals Limited (near Islamabad)

2.

Antibiotics Private Limited (in Mianwali).

Positive Growth Era The pharmaceutical industry in the country experienced a growth stage from 1948 which continued till 1971. 1948 --1971

Crises  The year 1972 saw the introduction of Drug Generic Act which implied discriminatory and restrictive registration policy hampering the growth of national manufacturers who suffered a lot and gradually lost their export market.

 The competitive edge of the pharmaceutical industry was shattered during this period making it hard to survive for players in the market.

Current Scenario  There are currently over 400 pharmaceutical manufacturing units registered in Pakistan.

Out Of 316 Units; 90%-------------local pharmaceutical units. 10%-------------multinational owned.

Local Units-----------------------386 Multinational Units------------30

Province-Wise Divison Local Units: Punjab------------------------- 265 units Sindh--------------------------- 76 units N.W.F.P------------------------ 37 units Balochistan……………… 5 units Azad Kashmir……………. 2 units.

Multinational Units: Sindh----------------------------- 23 units Punjab--------------------------- 5 units Balochistan--------------------- 2 units

Economic Drivers External Economic Drivers

 A very large population - 152 million people.  The Government's emphasis on providing health facilities for everyone  An increase in per capita income which has provided greater disposable income for health related expenditures.  General health awareness and consciousness among the population.  Approximately 56,000 doctors - both general physicians and specialists - whose prescriptions are the main sales drivers for the industry.  A cut in Government duties on pharmaceutical raw materials and packing materials.  Export opportunities due to WTO implementation.  Manufacturing and marketing of cheaper new generic drugs by National Companies.

Internal Economic Drivers  Availability of Chinese machinery which is much cheaper as compared to other countries  New generation of educated entrepeneurs in local companies  Production processes' rationalisation and improvements  An increase in sales and marketing spend

Import

Nearly 90% of the basic raw material used for manufacturing is imported from countries like China, India, Japan, UK, Germany and many others. Though Pakistan has potential for making herbal medicines locally.

Problems  According to a recently published report by, EFPIA (European Union Federation Of Pharmaceutical Industries And Association), Pakistan ranks 2nd in the production of substandard and second class medicines. (Sunday Magazine, 8 April 2007) th

 It is also said in the report that nearly 1,7500 people die each year in Pakistan due to these substandard medicines.  According to a feature published in Sunday magazine on 8th April, 07, there are 28,000 medical stores in Punjab, and for their checking there are only 50 drug inspectors.  Similarly there is only one drug testing laboratory in Punjab, which can test up to the most of 1500 samples per month.

Problems (continued) Pakistan’s drug act is 30 years old, and after 1976, no change has been made to it according to the situation. The system of obtaining licenses for the medicines production is very loose, and any one who has huge amount of money can dive into this business.

Growth Rate (as of MAT Q3-2005) • Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry is worth approximately US$1.18 billion. • Annual growth rate is estimated at 9.4%.

Pricing -A cause of worry  Prices of many pharmaceutical products are much higher in Pakistan as compared to India. The core reason behind this is that most of the basic pharmaceutical raw materials are imported.  According to statistics by Ministry of Health 41.2% of the Pakistani population cannot afford procuring medicines due to high prices in the country.  The other key reason for high prices is the partial deregulation policy undertaken by the government in the year 1993 which raised the prices of drugs by nearly 400% in just few months.  Similarly, the government decision to let the Ministry of Industries to decide about the drug pricing is creating confusion and resentment.

Health Policy 2010 Ministry Of Health And Government 

The Ministry of Health along with Government of Pakistan is working on health policy 2010 for planned enhancements in overall health sector by the way of promoting and upgrading healthcare facilities at all tiers.



Main Features Of The policy are;

1.

to improve effective access to healthcare

2. 3.

Reduction in communicable diseases Good governance at both directorate and agency level

Categories Of Medicines Produced Locally  There are close to 125 categories of medicines produced locally including all kind of vitamins, antiallergics, alkaloids, ointments, cough syrups, etc. Many of the manufacturing units are ISO certified adhering to UK and US Pharmacopoeia.

 Some of the irrational drugs that have been banned in the West are still sold in Pakistan. Local doctors are misled by the pharmaceutical companies to prescribe unethical formulations and the government remains silent and allows this to go on so as not to offend the WTO and the icon of "free trade".

Actions Taken By Governement To Ensure Quality  The federal health secretary Ejaz Rahim has recently announced in a press conference at Karachi that Pakistan Health Ministry is considering making a committee comprising of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and Health Ministry to keep check on the quality of drugs available in the market.

 Government of Pakistan had invested Rs 8 billion in the pharmaceutical industry since 1999 to guarantee good quality drugs at competitive prices. 2,500 new drugs have been registered and 32 new drugmanufacturing units have started production since 1999.

Conlusion  Seeing the past and current scenerio, we feel that there is much potential in the Pharma industry of Pakistan. The implementations of WTO has created export oppurtunites of our products in the international market with quality standards. Moreover the increased governments attention towards this sector shows bright hopes for the future of this industry.  The increase in budget according to “IMS Asia” [www.imsasia.com] report is showing the positive scope for the pharma sector. This will inturn promote the employment generation. The import of machinary from China is expected to

increase our produciton and production efficiency.

 This industry needs more attention of the government regarding health standards and quality standards of the product. Almost every medicine’s catalouge should mention the “adverse affects” clearly. The workers employed at packing, unpacking of the medicines and those who are physically related with the production of certain medicines should be treated with certain health measures.

 Overall, the industry has much potential to capture domestic as well as international market share provided that its in accordance with the quality standards as prescribed by WTO.

Thankyou

Questions?