AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.4%)
AIRLINK 129.53 Decreased By ▼ -2.20 (-1.67%)
BOP 6.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.15%)
CNERGY 4.63 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.58%)
DCL 8.94 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.36%)
DFML 41.69 Increased By ▲ 1.08 (2.66%)
DGKC 83.77 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-0.37%)
FCCL 32.77 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.33%)
FFBL 75.47 Increased By ▲ 6.86 (10%)
FFL 11.47 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.06%)
HUBC 110.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.21 (-1.08%)
HUMNL 14.56 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (1.75%)
KEL 5.39 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (3.26%)
KOSM 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-6.46%)
MLCF 39.79 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (0.91%)
NBP 60.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 199.66 Increased By ▲ 4.72 (2.42%)
PAEL 26.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.15%)
PIBTL 7.66 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.41%)
PPL 157.92 Increased By ▲ 2.15 (1.38%)
PRL 26.73 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.19%)
PTC 18.46 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.87%)
SEARL 82.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-0.7%)
TELE 8.31 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.97%)
TOMCL 34.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.06 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (2.84%)
TREET 17.47 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (4.61%)
TRG 61.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.13 (-1.81%)
UNITY 27.43 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.38 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (7.81%)
BR100 10,407 Increased By 220 (2.16%)
BR30 31,713 Increased By 377.1 (1.2%)
KSE100 97,328 Increased By 1781.9 (1.86%)
KSE30 30,192 Increased By 614.4 (2.08%)

KARACHI: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) is all set to digitize its entire systems by the end of the current year to ensure hassle-free approval and registration of new medicines in the country as per the international best pharmaceutical practices.

This was stated by DRAP Chief Executive Officer Asim Rauf while meeting the Karachi-based drug producers at a meeting organized by the South Zone of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA).

Rauf told the drug manufacturers that digitization of the DRAP was one step forward towards modernization of the pharmaceutical sector of the country as per international standards.

He said the automation would be adopted to such an extent that medicine producers wouldn’t be required to physically visit the DRAP offices not even once for getting necessary approvals for pharmaceutical products in the country.

He told participants of the meeting that DRAP was fully committed to the cause of modernizing entire systems of drug production as per the latest international standards for enhancing exports of medicines from the country.

He urged all the medicine manufacturers in the country to establish drug testing systems and hire qualified human resources in the requisite number to meet international drug production standards.

Rauf said that the decades-old obsolete drug inspection system was gradually being done away with and in its place, a risk-based auditing regime for drug industries was being introduced by the DRAP to uphold the honor and dignity of the medicine producers.

He urged the large producers of medicines that already have obtained the necessary international accreditations to help other drug manufacturers in the country to meet the same global standards for enhancing medicinal exports from Pakistan.

He told the audience that the DRAP had recommended to the government to deal in the Chinese currency RMB for the import of raw materials for drug production and medical devices for uninterrupted pharmaceutical production in the country that could otherwise be halted due to drastic measures by the government against imports.

The DRAP chief offered to the drug manufacturers to meet after every six months to review the process of removing bottlenecks for enhancing pharmaceutical exports from Pakistan.

He said the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan had the ability and competence to compete with drug producers from any part of the world for capturing the global export market of medicinal products.

Also speaking at the meeting, PPMA Chairman, Syed Farooq Bukhari said that pharmaceutical exports from Pakistan stood at around US $ 280 million a year.

He said the PPMA had been making efforts to enhance it to $10 billion in the coming few years to become one percent of the global pharmaceutical export market.

He said the PPMA would fully support the policy decisions of the government to increase exports of medicines from the country so that the drug producers could play an important role in reversing the economic downturn.

Former PPMA Chairman, Kaiser Waheed suggested to DRAP end its traditional system of inspecting drug manufacturing sites as instead, it should launch an advisory service for medicine producers to overcome technical gaps in their manufacturing facilities.

He said the DRAP should simplify and speed up the approval process for drug exporters from Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

Comments

Comments are closed.