Import of critical medicines from India: Pharma industry has no objection

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The Pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan has agreed to allow the import of some critical medicines from India, which may pave the way for an agreement between the government and the industry for granting the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to India, it is learnt.

Well-placed sources revealed to Business Recorder that the pharmaceutical industry has conditionally softened its stance towards medicine imports from India.  Industry representatives recently met with the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) and placed its reservations over the MFN status to India.

Earlier, the industry was against the import of value added and finished products in any shape and insisted on only raw material import. However, now the industry has agreed that import of some vaccines, biological and anti-cancer medicines, which are not produced in Pakistan, may be allowed from India. Furthermore FDA-approved brands, which India exports to Europe and USA, may also be allowed in the country. Import of low quality medicines should be strictly monitored and banned to save the local industry.

Sources further said that the RDA has appraised the Ministry of Commerce and Industry about the reservations of the pharmaceutical industry over giving a free hand to Indian medicines after the grant of MFN status. A joint meeting of the RDA, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and pharmaceutical representatives would be held next week. The pharmaceutical industry would brief the ministries and may reach some consensus on MFN, sources maintained.       

Vice-Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Nasir Qureshi told Business Recorder that unlike Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry, which is centralized and regulated by a national body called the Drug Regulatory Authority, India’s drug manufacturers operate without a central regulatory framework. Every Indian state has its own regional regulatory body and there is no central drug regularity authority to streamline the pharmaceutical sector across India.

If Indian medicines were allowed entry into Pakistan, it is feared that sale of substandard and spurious drugs could increase which would result in destroying the local industry, he added.

There are about 30,000 pharmaceutical units in India against 475 in Pakistan. However there is an energy crisis in the country coupled with strict regulatory restrictions and if medicines of low quality (relatively cheaper) were allowed in the country, the local industry would collapse, Qureshi maintained.

Recently Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that local manufacturers have reservations on grant of MFN status to India and abolishing the negative list has been delayed. The government is taking steps to address their reservations, he added.