Around 300 essential drugs awaiting cabinet’s approval for over 14 months

Islamabad : Around 200 essential drugs have been awaiting approval for the new prices from the federal cabinet for over 14 months along with registration of over 100 new drugs despite after approval from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

The minutes of the meeting of Drug Pricing Committee at DRAP that approved the prices and registration of the essential drugs in February 2019 were sent to the federal cabinet yet it did not approve the minutes so far making lives of patients suffering from serious ailments miserable.

Various stakeholders have been terming the delay in approval of new prices of existing drugs and registration of new novel molecules by the federal cabinet a failure on the part of the government particularly on ensuring availability of latest lifesaving drugs to patients.

The drug prices are approved by the Drug Pricing Committee at DRAP under Drug Pricing Policy and sent the minutes to the Prime Minister for approval of federal government to comply with the law and Supreme Court decision of 2018 wherein Prime Minister in Cabinet means the federal government, said Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) Muhammad Zaka Ur Rahman while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

After disruption around the world after the coronavirus pandemic, getting raw material for drugs has become a challenge while we had already discontinued trade with India in 2019 that means manufacturers have become unable to provide many lifesaving drugs on old prices, he said.

He added that the manufacturers demanded review of only few drugs, around 200 in number that cost much higher than their retail prices approved years ago. In market, there are 35000 to 40000 medicines, he said.

He said according to the policy, the prices of drugs should have been finalized in 90 days after the meeting of Drug Pricing Committee at DRAP but the approval has not been made by the federal cabinet for over 14 months.

He said the case was sent to the PM twice but he handed it over to the task forces and now after the COVID-19 pandemic, the process has been stuck in result of which many essential drugs are not available in market.

CEO Ferozsons Laboratories Osman Khalid Waheed when contacted by ‘The News’ on Saturday said as per definition, the federal cabinet gives final approval of prices of the existing drugs and on registration of new drugs though for 14 months, the cabinet did not give even a single approval.

Most of the drugs, both the old and new ones awaiting approval are essential lifesaving drugs used for treatment of life-threatening ailments including cancers, hepatitis and like diseases, he said.

The drugs awaiting approval include Vemlidy (tenofovir alafenamide), a new treatment for hepatitis B and Hecolin, a vaccine for hepatitis E, which kills around 10000 persons every year in Pakistan including pregnant women, he said.

In a letter written by the PPMA to Chief Executive Officer DRAP Asim Rauf in April this year, the association requested the DRAP CEO to take up the long awaited DPC minutes of February 2019 before the federal cabinet for approval.

In a ‘Gentle Reminder’ bearing subject “Immediate measures required due to COVID-19 Emergency”, the PPMA states that holding these minutes is directly affecting patients’ quality of life.

These long awaited DPC minutes include the prices of essential products on the list besides new novel molecules. The PPMA request your esteem authority once again through this letter to kindly put your utmost efforts for getting DPC minutes approved through cabinet for the best interest of patients, states the PPMA letter.