This is true since 90 per cent of medicines are being manufactured locally.
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to a report in your newspaper of April 8 where Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, was quoted as saying: “Today, our pharmaceutical industry has moved from being import-based to export-based.”
This is true since 90 per cent of medicines are being manufactured locally and there are more than 400 pharmaceutical manufacturers, who are manufacturing cost-effective branded generics for local consumption. The export of pharmaceutical products has grown over 30 per cent on a year-to-year basis, despite the economy’s problems. The current export value of this emerging category has reached $164 million with Pakistani-made medicines being sold to over 30 countries. This is no mean achievement.
M Haroon Qassim
Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2011.
