Pharma Industry Demands Price Hike, Issues Warning of Drug Shortages:
Pharma Industry Demands Price Hike, Issues Warning of Drug Shortages
The local pharmaceutical industry has warned that it would be difficult to manufacture pharmaceuticals in a sustainable manner beyond the next seven days.
According to a letter from the pharmaceutical industry to the Ministry of Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, the local pharmaceutical industry is heavily reliant on raw material imports to ensure the continuous availability of medications in the country (DRAP).
According to the letter:
Costs of active pharmaceutical components, or raw materials used to create drugs, have skyrocketed on the worldwide market since the Covic-19 outbreak, striking a deadly blow to the pharmaceutical industry.
At the same time, production input prices such as fuel, power, freight, and packing supplies surged at an unprecedented rate.
To avert a disaster, the pharmaceutical industry pleaded with the federal government and DRAP to take appropriate, practical, and corrective action, such as allowing inflationary adjustments in maximum retail prices of medicines, which if ignored would lead to the local pharmaceutical industry’s demise.
The pharmaceutical industry claimed that the federal government and the DRAP had taken no action to protect the public or address the current issue, which had led to the sector’s collapse due to its inability to guarantee the continued production of high-quality, safe, and effective therapeutic products at competitive prices.
According to the letter:
The situation has deteriorated as a result of the Pakistani Rupee’s approximately 26% devaluation against the US Dollar since July 2022. Most importantly, it has lost roughly Rs. 50 in value relative to the US dollar since the beginning of 2023.
Furthermore, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed by 27.6% in January compared to the previous year’s same month.
The pharmaceutical industry claimed that the federal government’s and the DRAP’s failure to take corrective action had resulted in a force majeure with regard to the industry’s obligations to ensure continuous availability of medicines in the local market, which had now become impossible due to the aforementioned situation.
The pharmaceutical industry stated:
“It has become absolutely unsustainable to manufacture pharmaceuticals and ensure their availability beyond the next seven days due to the aforementioned and being compelled and constrained by circumstances beyond our control.”
Also Read,
Pavan Manzoor is an experienced content writer , editor and social media handler along with a track record of youth-oriented activities in Pakistan and abroad. She was selected as a fully-funded delegate as a leadership fellow in Turkey. She also led a team of 5 volunteers at the week-long Young Professionals Fellowship in Maldives. She is also a member of the Youth Standing Committee on Higher Education.
