Govt plans to?help firms revamp manufacturing units,?refurbish machinery,?ensure subsidized power in bid to produce drugs such as penicillin at competitive rates
New Delhi: The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), during a meeting on Wednesday, urged pharma companies to strive for self-sufficiency in critical drugs like penicillin, rifampicin and insulin, in a sign of government concern over India’s dependence on Chinese imports.
A large number of so-called active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), or bulk drugs, that go into manufacturing 15-20 drugs, such as antibiotic penicillin and anti-diabetic metformin in the National List of Essential Medicines, are imported from China.
According to industry experts, there are no domestic producers left for a number of drugs like Penicillin G, making India dependent on imports for key intermediates used in essential antibodies.
“We are dependent on China for penicillin, which is the mother antibiotic for all the third-generation antibiotics. China has about 80% of the penicillin market. Likewise, rifampicin, which is the backbone for (treatment of) TB (tuberculosis), there is only one unit in India…The government has to take stringent steps to ensure that over-dependence on China even for essential drugs is curtailed,” said an industry expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The meeting organized by the DoP on Wednesday was attended by representatives of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) and the Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs (FOBE), along with executives from Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Pfizer Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd as well as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
The DoP has proposed providing financial assistance for revamping old manufacturing facilities, refurbishing plants and machinery and ensuring subsidized supply of electricity and sugar for making production of penicillin at internationally competitive prices.
In its agenda for the meeting, the department also suggested financial assistance to local manufacturers—both in the public and private sectors—for the procurement of the latest technical knowhow (including appropriate strains of microbes) for economic production of penicillin.
For the local manufacturing facilities that have closed down due to substantially cheaper imports, the department proposes to offer pro-active incentives to revive their plants.
Please click here to read more.