Prepared pharmaceutical products imported from China are only worth USD This dependence created some panic when Wuhan where most of the Chinese suppliers are located was affected by the Covid crisis in early Why such import dependence? The Indian pharmaceutical industry did not start out with a dependence on imported APIs and drug intermediates.
As a result, profit margins for manufacturing APIs remain low and very few private manufacturers remain in India. The high start-up and operation costs, and long gestation periods are cited as some of the reasons for the lack of manufacturing capacity within India. Today, even basic medical consumables like syringes and gauze pads are imported Dept.
Similarly, India lacks the capacity to produce even commonly used APIs and drug intermediates like chloroquine anti-malarial , gabapentin anti-anxiety , paracetamol analgesic and many antibiotics.
However, the response from industry stakeholders has been lukewarm. According to the head of a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company, " We cannot increase the production of APIs to an extent where we end up matching the economies of scale generated by Chinese units.
Our cost of production for API will be higher, which in turn would hamper the export competitiveness of the products ". Keeping the prices of Indian drugs globally competitive while also switching to domestically manufactured APIs would entail " phenomenally high " incentives, investments, and subsidies.
Since both face similar risks of disruption of their supplies, should they cooperate to increase the resilience of their supply chain? Although the volume of trade in pharmaceuticals between India and Europe is high, the relationship is neither robust nor does it extend to long-term engagements in research and development, sharing scientific know-how, supply of equipment, joint investments etc. Both parties stand to benefit from broader and deeper cooperation since it would help reduce their dependence on China.
Currently, Indian manufacturers cite high start-up costs and long gestation periods as reasons for not investing in domestic API manufacturing. Similarly, shifting to Europe as a source of APIs rather than China is also an option that needs to be explored. Currently, European countries, particularly Italy and Spain are important sources of API imports for India, but the volume imported from these countries is far behind that imported from China. The framework to extend India-EU cooperation already exists, as does a conducive environment.
The EU has a cooperation agreement with India signed in , which allows the setting up of specialized subgroups on sectors including pharmaceuticals. In , they also adopted a joint action plan for the India-EU strategic partnership , under which a joint working group on pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices was set up and began functioning in According to the Germany-based Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, 2, scientific studies about pharmaceuticals were conducted in the US in , as compared to studies in Germany, in China and only 65 in India.
This makes the difference in capacity very clear, and also demonstrates the need and space for cooperation. Therefore, the greatest avenue for cooperation however lies in research and development in the pharmaceutical sector. Institut Montaigne. FR EN. In the News. Data Analyst and IT Engineer.
Introduction The exposition Expo is a global event sanctioned by the The Govern Government e- Marketplace GeM With swift rise of digitalisation, governments worldwide are incorpo Enjoy FREE subscriptions downloads, updates and more.
Already a member? Please enable Javascript for full functionality. India ranks 3rd worldwide for pharmaceutical production by volume and 14th by value. India to buy 10 million doses of Zydus Cadila's Covid vaccine at Rs. Introduction India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally.
Market Size According to the Indian Economic Survey , the domestic market is expected to grow 3x in the next decade. In August , Alkem Laboratories introduced Famotidine and Ibuprofen tablets to treat osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms in the US.
In June , Lupin Ltd. It incorporated Lupin Digital Health Ltd. In May , Indian Immunologicals Ltd. The two PSUs plan to start production of vaccines by September Roughly 29 skilled health workers are available for every 10, people in India compared with 41 in China and in the United States. Fewer than a third of Indians have health insurance, the rest deal with medical bills directly. Despite the potential for growth in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, it is being squeezed from many sides.
Generic drugs manufacturers are facing stringent pricing pressures from the government that is keen to make treatment more affordable, yet Indian medicines are already the lowest priced in the world.
At the same time, growth in its key US export market is moderating, due to price erosion and greater scrutiny from regulators. America accounts for over a third of total exports.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry has been slow to innovate when it comes to new molecules or complex generic drugs.
0コメント