Govt gives $30 billion export target to pharma industry, pushes for local vaccine manufacturing

ISLAMABAD: The government has set the country’s pharmaceutical export target at an ambitious $30 billion for the next five years, according to Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Syed Mustafa Kamal.

Kamal was speaking at the 8th Pakistan Pharma Summit and the 4th Pharma Export Summit & Awards (PESA 2025) held in Islamabad on Wednesday, ahead of a meeting on local manufacturing of vaccines with industry representatives on Thursday as the government looks to cut heavy reliance on imported vaccines, including from neighbouring India.

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Addressing concerns that the $30 billion figure may be an overambitious target, Kamal said: “We have to put the challenge on. Let’s come out of the comfort zone.”

“The government - the ministry - is creating an enabling environment. We (the ministry) are open 24/7 including on Sundays. There are no holidays.”

“We have already achieved $1 billion in pharmaceutical exports in the previous fiscal year 2024-25,” he said, adding the export number was calculated after clubbing export of medical devices and supplements with medicine exports.

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Kamal further said “I am not going to buy the industry export target of $2 billion to $3 billion set for the next couple of years.”

“The world is scaling up exports and generating revenues worth billions of dollars. Why can’t Pakistan do it? The ministry of health and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) will support the industry in further developing and expanding locally and surging exports multifold,” he said.

“Look at different ways. Deploy technology to grow and achieve the export targets,” Kamal added.

He said there is no healthcare system in Pakistan, but rather a “sick care system”.

“We wait for people to fall sick to take care of them. We have to transform this into a healthcare system,” he said.

The minister said Pakistan is relying heavily - around 90-95% - on imported vaccines – mostly from India.

“We cannot afford to buy vaccines from anywhere outside. Come together. Start manufacturing them in Pakistan,” he reiterated.

Meanwhile Tauqeer Ul Haq, Chairman, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) and Managing Director of Sante, said that Pakistan’s pharma industry’s standalone export growth rate hit a two-decade high of 34% in FY25, increasing the export volume of medicines to $475 million in the year.

Dr Kaiser Waheed, Chairman Summit President and CEO, Medisure Laboratories, told the summit the import of vaccines and APIs (medicine raw material) have fallen next to nil in the wake of the India-Pakistan conflict that took place earlier this year.

Industry officials said Pakistan should focus on African, Central Asian and Far Eastern countries to multiply medicine exports. At the same time, they should focus on acquiring global certification to export to highly regulated regions including the US and Europe.