The Pharmaceutical Industry is a human Industry – an industry which caters to the health of public and is therefore of significant importance. As such, the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association came into existence on January 26, 1961 and the Government of Pakistan through the Ministry of Commerce registered PPMA as the only Representative body of the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Country. The Government issued a Licence to this effect under Section 26 of the Companies Act, 1913 on July 18, 1961 . The Association was formally incorporated under the Companies Act, 1913 by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies.
At the time of establishment of PPMA there were only ten members throughout the country who are the founder members of the PPMA and it was through their efforts that this Association came into being. Now, today the Membership of the Association is 210 (Approximately), who possess the licence for manufacturing drugs granted by the Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan against a total number of 350 units approximately.
An exclusive interview with Ayesha T Haq, Executive Director, Pharma Bureau on the issues faced by the Pakistan Pharma Industry. Ayesha says nowhere in the world, other than Pakistan, does the state have blanket control over prices of all medicines.
Q. What are the major challenges that the Pharma sector is confronted with?
A. The biggest challenge faced by the industry is the complete freezing of prices of pharmaceutical products. The price mechanism set by the government since 2001 has not allowed the pharma industry to increase prices of even those drugs whose costs have gone up by more than a 100 percent, whereas the price of inputs such as fuel, electricity, labour wages and raw materials have increased drastically making the survival of the industry very difficult. There were 36 MNCs working in Pakistan in the early 2000s in the sector, that number is now down to about 22. That is an eye-opening number of exits. In recent times the situation has become worse as most of the raw material is imported and any increase in dollar rates adversely affects the profitability of the local manufacturers.
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