Pharma Bureau urges govt action amid drug shortages

Executive director says grey market has become bigger than white market

KARACHI:

Pharma Bureau Executive Director Ayesha Tammy Haque has called for a focus on quality, fixing CPI-adjusted price increases for medicines, forming a sustainable policy, updating the drug act, increasing efficiency, and curbing counterfeiting.

“Essential drug lists and their prices must be regulated, but leave non-essential drugs to the open market; it will take a few years to settle the prices. Competition will drive the prices, and investments will push up growth. The pharmaceutical companies are facing issues, including excessive control, lack of predictable policy, and the like. Labour and energy-intensive processes, high energy costs, water purification challenges, and import tariffs have scaled up production costs significantly,” she said during a meeting at the Pharma Bureau with select journalists.

She also highlighted the substantial losses faced by pharmaceutical companies. With 262 hardship cases pending for the past eighteen months, Haque emphasised the necessity of creating a conducive environment and implementing long-term policies to revitalise investment in Pakistan’s declining pharmaceutical sector.

The Pharma Bureau, a representative body of multinational pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan, has urged the government to swiftly announce consumer price index (CPI)-adjusted prices for medicines, as the drug shortage is becoming a crucial issue for patients.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation, and Coordination should ensure the quality of medicines, she said, adding that inconsistent policy or changing the policy frequently may lead to the closure of companies due to uncertainty in the country.

“We set up a vaccine plant in 1960 in the country for the first time in the entire region as we had a vision to make the country a vaccine hub, but we did nothing, and the plant fell prey to a fiasco. There is little commitment to the country,” she said.

Read: Pharma sector assured of govt support

She advised the government to do away with price regulation and focus on quality regulation instead to ensure a smooth supply of quality medicines to patients. “To support local manufacturing and enable export capabilities, long-term policies and comprehensive drug pricing strategies are crucial. The government should consider this plea as an SOS (save our souls) call from the industry to allow CPI adjusted price increases for the medicines,” she said.

For well over a year, the pharma industry has been urging the government to deal with the problem of drug shortages. This requires addressing the key issues of hyperinflation and massive devaluation, which have increased the costs of manufacture and have put hundreds of medicines in hardship. The industry filed for hardships, which have been reviewed and evaluated by the DRAP, and 262 hardship cases are pending approval of the federal government for over a year.

She said the availability of both locally produced and imported medicines is decreasing, forcing patients to purchase medicines at a higher price in the black market.

“This shortage of medicines has resulted in the growth of the grey market, as this vacuum is being filled by smuggled medicines without any warranty, and genuine medicines are being replaced by spurious and counterfeit products,” said Ayesha, claiming that these markets have become bigger than the white market.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2023.

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