‘Bulk drug industry needs special financial package’

Indian bulk drug industry has been losing to Chinese competition and our dependence on Chinese APIs has been increasing. It is time that we encourage the Indian bulk drug industry by removing bottlenecks in environmental clearance, working capital availability and power cost

• SMEs are growth engines of any industry. Pharma SMEs in India need a boost by way of plant upgradation and GMP training. If given the right support, they can become excellent exporters and quality contract manufacturers
• Prices of medicines in India are amongst the lowest in the world. While there can be further scope for improvement we should not over-stretch it. Drug prices in India are just stabilising after DPCO 2013. Further changes in NLEM list can bring instability and affect availability.
• FDCs are preferred by the medical profession in India due to their efficacy, convenience and economy. While there may be a few irrational FDCs there are many FDCs that need to be continued for patients’ benefits.
• NDDS and formulation R&D need to be encouraged to bring innovative and patentable dosage forms.

Top priority areas

• Increase healthcare spend to atleast four per cent
• Step up medical insurance in a big way
• Bulk drug industry needs special financial package.
• R&D investments need to be subsidised .
• Give exports incentives to enhance our global market share of pharma products

– S V Veerramani, President, IDMA