‘Pharma exports can reach $5bln within 10 years’

KARACHI: Pakistan can increase its pharmaceutical exports to five billion dollars within the next 10 years from the current $200 million if the country gets the membership of the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention/Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S), an industry leader said. 

Ex-Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Zahid Saeed said PIC/S provides cooperation in the field of good manufacturing practice and if Pakistan becomes its member and follows its regulations, the country’s medicines will have an access to at least 60 countries, from Malaysia to Sweden.

“We have been demanding of the government to get its [PIC/S] membership,” Saeed, who is also the chief executive officer at Indus Pharma, said in an interview.

He claimed that currently the World Health Organization (WHO) doesn’t certify a single medicine manufactured in Pakistan, which is, albeit, a signatory to the WHO.

“After PIC/S’s membership, the WHO would also certify our medicines and gradually Pakistan could reach to European Union and the United States,” he added.

At present, Pakistan is exporting its medicines to Far East, South East Asia, and African and Middle Eastern countries. 

The global medicines market has reached $1,100 billion, while Pakistani’s pharmaceutical industry’s size is of around three billion dollars.

Inspectors of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan certify local medicines, which are mostly used in the local market.

The WHO’s member countries use online system for the drug registration, which takes four to five years in Pakistan. The government attributes this to the staff shortage. India registers new medicines in a period of six to eight months. 

Saeed said the local industry’s applications, filed in 2012, are still pending with the DRAP.

The consumers or patients are suffering because of the delay in registration. Pharma industry is also affected as a medicine expires within three years. 

A request from several pharma companies for the manufacturing of an anti-Hepatitis drug has been lying with the authority for a long time. “The medicine could save a patient more than Rs60,000/month, but the authority is no giving any response,” said Saeed. 

He said there are multiple regulatory systems in the country. The government is setting the prices. Under a WHO’s rule, prices of life saving drugs and first-line medicines can be controlled. “The rule is not being followed in Pakistan,” he added. “Medicines in Pakistan are cheaper than India.”

Saeed said Pakistan has no contribution towards the research in the medicinal field, as a research over one molecule needs one billion dollars.