Govt refuses to increase drug prices: More medicine manufacturers may declare ‘force majeure’, says pharma industry

ISLAMABAD: Around 34 more medicines including antibiotics and chemotherapy medicines, in addition to Panadol tablets and syrups, are likely to vanish from pharmacies across Pakistan, after the government flatly refused to raise their prices, despite strong recommendations from the Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), federal officials and pharmaceutical industry owners warned on Monday.

“The medicine crisis is likely to intensify in the days to come, as the present government has flatly refused to increase the prices of 35 essential medicines, which were forwarded to the federal cabinet as hardship cases. Manufacturers of Panadol, which is the largest medicine in terms of volume and value, have already suspended their production by declaring force majeure, while manufacturers of other 34 other medicines are likely to follow suit”, an office-bearer of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), told The News in Islamabad on Monday.

“Instead of increasing the price of Paracetamol, the prime minister and some of his ministers say they would give subsidy on tablets and syrups, while some of the powerful ministers say, providing subsidy in this regard is impossible. In this situation, only the people are going to suffer, as not only Panadol but many other medicines are likely to vanish from the market”, the PPMA official said on condition of anonymity.

The list of 34 medicines available with The News which was forwarded to the federal cabinet for an increase in their prices as ‘hardship cases’ includes different antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of cancer, anti-hypertension medications, various combinations of paracetamol, several eye drops and other essential medicines.

Officials of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS, R&C) and DRAP also feared that the crisis of the shortage of medicines was likely to worsen but added that it was the responsibility of the federal government to ensure the availability of essential medicines to the people on affordable prices.

Several heads of multinational and local pharmaceutical companies are in Islamabad for the last few days, meeting with the government high-ups to sort out the issue of pricing to prevent the shortage of medicines but ‘owing to political reasons, the present government is unwilling to accept the justified demand of an increase in prices, whose cost of production have become unbearable for the companies, the PPMA office-bearer revealed.

Owners of different pharmaceutical companies who attended the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the PPMA in Islamabad on Monday, claimed that they were unable to continue the production of various medicines due to an increase in the prices of raw materials, including the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) as well as packing material and warned that if the government did not take the issue seriously, it would result in a serious shortage of medicines across Pakistan.

“After Panadol, producers of many other essential medicines may invoke ‘force majeure’ and halt the production after the government is not willing to increase the prices as the cost of production is now more than double the prices of these medicines fixed by the regulator many years back”, another PPMA office-bearer and head of a leading local pharmaceutical company added.

Officials in the NHS and DRAP confirmed to The News, that the government was only willing to provide subsidy for the production of paracetamol products instead of increasing its prices, but added that the government had devised no mechanism yet