Pharma industry: Ample opportunities for progress

Lack of standards and inability to enforce standards hampering local pharmaceutical growth.

KARACHI:

Companies will have to demonstrate that their brands add value to patients, and there are ample opportunities for Pakistan’s pharma industry to progress, according to Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA).

We have global market for pharmaceutical industry, but we are losing all these opportunities, they said.

They pointed out that Pakistan had the lowest spending on health, and demanded the government to increase healthcare spending. Pakistan has inadequate infrastructure and highest infrastructure operating cost in the world.

According to them, some of the companies in Pakistan are not even meeting local standards, and it is pivotal for the pharma industry in Pakistan to maintain high standards.

PPMA intends to sign an MOU with Iran for collaboration and cooperation in the field of pharmaceuticals as transfer of technology may be much more cost effective.

We have to think globally, adopt free market orientation, and be mindful of different cultures, they added. They also highlighted the importance of keeping costs under control, and only then will they be able to compete.

They also called upon training medical representatives, saying that they should know how to interact with doctors and convey messages effectively in a matter of minutes.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.