Pakistan Pharma Industry in fear of closure after Indian Offer.

[American Pakistani]

Pharma industry fears closure after MFN to India



ISLAMABAD: The import of medicines from Indiaunder proposed Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status will threaten closure of local pharmaceutical industry as well as significant loss of jobs.
The Indian pharmaceutical market is of 10 times bigger in size than that of Pakistan. Being a global player in pharmaceutical sector, and after having MFN from Pakistan, Indian industry would be nothing less than monster for Pakistan manufacturers. Therefore, local pharmaceutical manufacturers are perturbed and have considered this in principle decision to grant MFN to India as impropriate.

Health experts and pharmaceutical manufacturers on Sunday said that around 20 to 25 per cent drugs manufactured in India were spurious. "India, being world’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs, has become a busy center for counterfeit and substandard medicines. Stuffed in slick packaging, the fake drugs are passed on to consumers and sold in developing nations around the world," Chairman of Pharmaceutical Business Association (Regd), Aslam Naqqash said.

He said each and every province in India has its own regulatory system and it (India) was trying to introduce a Federal Regulatory Authority (FDA) to discourage fake drugs manufacturing.

He said Bangladesh has imposed a complete ban on Indian pharmaceutical products. This ban has helped Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector to grow and become global exporters, thus providing foreign exchange as well as local jobs.

Naqqash said the national pharma industry has invested substantially to upgrade itself in the last few years and today the majority of the industry is following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), in accordance with the domestic as well as international guidance. He said pharma finished products from India can be imported but these must be registered with their FDA.

In his comments, new Chief of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), Khawaja Muhammad Asad said in Pakistan the regulatory systems have been shifted to provinces. He asked the government to establish as early as possible Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) to help flourish the industry and to stop course of spurious drugs.

Chairman PPMA said currently the industry has the capacity to manufacture a variety of product ranging from simple pills to sophisticated Biotech, Oncology and Value Added Generic compounds.

He said Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry meets around 90% of the country’s demand of Finished Medicine. All these achievements would go down the drain and a vibrant and forward looking industry would be demolished if medicines, including biotech products are allowed to be imported from India.

 

[American Pakistani]

ONLINE - International News Network

This is the same concern i show yesturday here at PDF.

GOP MUST NOT IMPORT PHARMACEUTICALS FROM INDIA, OR IF IMPORT, HEAVY TAX MUST BE IMPOSED SO THAT THE DRUG/MEDICINE REACH THE SAME PRICE AS OF PAKISTANI ONE.

 

[raavan]

India had similar mindset prior to 1991 and we nearly went bankrupt. you can not survive with a protectionist mindset in this rapidly globalizing world. Competing with foreign companies helped indian companies to improve their own standards and now we have some world class facilities. the same will happen to pakistan

 

[American Pakistani]

India had similar mindset prior to 1991 and we nearly went bankrupt. you can not survive with a protectionist mindset in this rapidly globalizing world. Competing with foreign companies helped indian companies to improve their own standards and now we have some world class facilities. the same will happen to pakistan

At that time India was not open to the world, when india open its economy it had troubles in beginning but than international buisness companies saw cheap indian labour force & they start settingup their buisness in india which result in massive job flood & alot of tax payers in india. Pakistan story is different it is already open to the world, it is just India. If Pakistan opens up for India in every sector the cheap indian pharmaceuicals will flood into Pakistan & obviously Pakistani local companies will cease to exist. Already there is massive electricity issue in Pakistan & this another issue (even rumor) will destroy & simply shut down Pakistani companies.

GOP must either impose heavy tax's on those goods, that are manufactured in Pakistan too or otherwise ban those items. Only proceed in sectors of science & technology, automobiles & it's R&D & electronic goods & it's R&D, etc.

 

[Veritas]

So you are recommending that an average Pakistani should break the bank to ensure that Phrama industry is profitable enough to survive.

Indian Pharma companies do not receive government subsidies, how the idea of levying tax or duty on them is insane.

Instead of affordable access to medicines to people who have tiny incomes, you want the little guy to pay more so that some industry can be profitable?

 

[karan.1970]

At that time India was not open to the world, when india open its economy it had troubles in beginning but than international buisness companies saw cheap indian labour force & they start settingup their buisness in india which result in massive job flood & alot of tax payers in india. Pakistan story is different it is already open to the world, it is just India. If Pakistan opens up for India in every sector the cheap indian pharmaceuicals will flood into Pakistan & obviously Pakistani local companies will cease to exist. Already there is massive electricity issue in Pakistan & this another issue (even rumor) will destroy & simply shut down Pakistani companies.

GOP must either impose heavy tax's on those goods, that are manufactured in Pakistan too or otherwise ban those items. Only proceed in sectors of science & technology, automobiles & it's R&D & electronic goods & it's R&D, etc.

And what about the possibility of these drugs becoming affordable to the Pakistani poor who today can not afford these medicines due to their prohibitive cost? You think fattening up of industrialists' accounts is more important than making sure life saving drugs reach poor people who can not afford it other wise..

 

[American Pakistani]

So you are recommending that an average Pakistani should break the bank to ensure that Phrama industry is profitable enough to survive.

Indian Pharma companies do not receive government subsidies, how the idea of levying tax or duty on them is insane.

Instead of affordable access to medicines to people who have tiny incomes, you want the little guy to pay more so that some industry can be profitable?

Atleast today they have tiny incomes, what happens if they have NO INCOME & become jobless when Pakistani companies shutsdown?

 

[Veritas]

Atleast today they have tiny incomes, what happens if they have NO INCOME & become jobless when Pakistani companies shutsdown?

how many people both in absolute and percentage terms the Pharma industry employs? Ultimately, protectionism means higher prices across the board.

if the job lose is 20 to 30 thousand or those lines vs millions, at the end of the it is cost-benefit ratio. If you make expensive medicines, very likely it is for domestic consumption and the demand for the cheaper alternative will be handled by the black market.

 

[American Pakistani]

And what about the possibility of these drugs becoming affordable to the Pakistani poor who today can not afford these medicines due to their prohibitive cost? You think fattening up of industrialists' accounts is more important than making sure life saving drugs reach poor people who can not afford it other wise..

So you are suggesting that it doesn't matters if Pakistan companies shutdown, huge jobless people become criminals & economy gets collapse. India can invest in Pakistan there are alot of sectors which can benifit India as well as Pakistan & for that the top most sector is Power sector. Remember when people will have jobs they can buy anything otherwise if companies keep on shutting down, Pakistan will become Afghanistan because Pakistan don't have oil or other source to survive.

 

[Shinigami]

Atleast today they have tiny incomes, what happens if they have NO INCOME & become jobless when Pakistani companies shutsdown?

if indian pharma are banned, it will save a thousand pakistani jobs.

if they are allowed it will save a million pakistani lives by giving them cheap access to medicine.

what will you choose.?

 

[karan.1970]

So you are suggesting that it doesn't matters if Pakistan companies shutdown, huge jobless people become criminals & economy gets collapse. India can invest in Pakistan there are alot of sectors which can benifit India as well as Pakistan & for that the top most sector is Power sector. Remember when people will have jobs they can buy anything otherwise if companies keep on shutting down, Pakistan will become Afghanistan because Pakistan don't have oil or other source to survive.

What is the size of Pharma industry in Pakistan ?? vis-a-vis the benefit of these medicins reaching millions of Pakistanis who otherwise cant afford them?

 

[Bang Galore]

So you are suggesting that it doesn't matters if Pakistan companies shutdown, huge jobless people become criminals & economy gets collapse. India can invest in Pakistan there are alot of sectors which can benifit India as well as Pakistan & for that the top most sector is Power sector. Remember when people will have jobs they can buy anything otherwise if companies keep on shutting down, Pakistan will become Afghanistan because Pakistan don't have oil or other source to survive.

How do you know that is what will happen? Because the "interested" parties themselves make that claim? Pakistan needs to wait & see, it can always reimpose tariffs if the net outcome of this opening is deemed negative for Pakistan. At present, all that your pharma companies are doing is whining; they claim that the Indian companies are too big & have years of experience while at the same time claiming that all they do is produce spurious drugs. That should be easily settled by the market & quickly. While any local industry needs support, it has to be a careful trade off between their interests & the interests of the end consumer. I would not be surprised if the ones most against this deal are the MNC's who have a free run at this time. There is always a vested interest in any protest; to take it straight away at face value would be foolish. Pakistan needs to open up but keep a close watch as it would normally do. A bit of pressure might actually benefit your local companies & eventually will force them to be a lot more aggressive than they are now. There is plenty for your local companies to do by tying up with those Indian companies (for raw material & technology) who might chose not to enter the Pakistani market thereby keeping up the pressure on those Indian companies who do. There is no real reason to go all negative on this, atleast at this point.

 

[takeiteasy]

What is the size of Pharma industry in Pakistan ?? vis-a-vis the benefit of these medicins reaching millions of Pakistanis who otherwise cant afford them?

Pakistan Medical Association alleged that nearly half of drugs available in the country were counterfeit and that the population spent around three-quarters of their household health budget on drugs, half of which may be fake or unfit for human consumption.

http://www.espicom.com/prodcat2.nsf/Product_ID_Lookup/00000314?OpenDocument

I know that they make cheap steroids and body building freaks in developed countries are crazy for it, since it is cheaper and is a smuggled item?
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[EastWest]

India should make it clear..If these pakistanis keep on whining or go back on their word on MFN, we should stop the support to EU-Pakistan deal..
Let them then whine about how small hearted we are

 

[Black Widow]

"Life finds its way" so does business. When India opened its market , It was fear that domestic industry will collaps, after 20 years of liberalization we can see that it didn't happen.

Indian drugs companies will give initial setback to Pakistani companies, But after sometime things will be stable. The unemployed will be absorbed by Indian companies. Pakistani companies will come up with co-production. They will come up with joint venture.

Indian companies will open there production unit in Pakistan with pakistani collaboration (To increase the profit margin).

Some time I wonder with Pakistani attitude. They have no problem with cheap chinese products, But they have problem with Cheap (But good quality) Indian Product.