Ahmer Ashraf is the Regional Public Affairs Lead, Asia-Pacific markets for Pfizer's Consumer Healthcare business and heading an integrated department for Pfizer's Pakistan/Afghanistan affiliate in Public Affairs, Policy and Communications. He has previously worked for the Jang Group, and has also advised public officials including Provincial Minister of Education, Sindh.
Following are the excerpts from BR Research's sit-down with Ahmer last Friday in Islamabad where he was invited by the US Embassy for a panel discussion on Intellectual Property Rights.
BR Research: What are the key issues facing the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan?
Ahmer Ashraf: Generally, the biggest issue that we face as an industry, which affects both local and multinational companies, is the inconsistency in government policies. The policies need to be such that they give level playing field for all players whether local or multinational. That is essential for removal of ills such as counterfeiting, patent infringements and other serious issues. The pricing policy is an area where the government needs to be more consistent. The perception that pharmaceutical companies are just increasing their prices is not correct. Prices across the board have not been increased for 12 years. Consequently, more than 30 percent of Pfizer's entire portfolio in Pakistan is in loss right now.
The government needs to understand that like the price of ghee, rice, and flour, it needs to look at the consumer price index and then place the pharmaceutical products' prices according to that. The pharmaceutical companies are currently paying more for costs of labour, fuel and other resources than they did, say, 10 years ago. Besides the pharmaceutical industry, this affects Pakistan economically, as an unfavourable price regime would eventually force out the multinationals that would otherwise have to contend with making losses.
Pharmaceutical is a very small part of the entire health care industry. What the pharmaceutical industry needs in Pakistan is a lot more support from the government. The government also needs to increase the spending on health, which is currently the lowest in the region as a portion of GDP.
BRR: What is the government doing with regards to addressing these industry issues?
AA: The good thing that has happened over past few years is that the government has recently formed a 'Drugs Regulatory Authority' (DRA). The industry has applauded this action by the government. However, a lot more work needs to be done on that front. We want the DRA to function as a completely independent authority, drawing expertise and representation from both sides of the field, public and private. The authority must have on its board public health experts as well as pharmaceutical industry experts. Unless that happens, an agency that effectively addresses the problems of the industry will not be there. It is not just for the sake of the pharmaceutical industry - the resolution of the industry's problems is beneficial for the country's economy, as it is going to attract foreign direct investment and lay down foundations of a booming research-based industry in Pakistan.
BRR: What is the scale and scope of Research and Development (R&D) in Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry?
AA: There is a large potential out there in terms of R&D. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, and represents a certain diaspora of society in this part of Asia. Those things can help Pakistan attract clinical trials and other research based initiatives. Besides, within Pakistan, there are a lot of people who do not get access to medicine, which can help the industry run large-scale clinical trials here in Pakistan. We can also try and do smaller scale researches, which are basically, a part of research for a product, disease or disease prevalence. The only issue is that you need to have policies which are conducive for the business, which give protection to the local industry, and which encourage technology transfer. Pakistan needs to get the basics right. Put the policies in place first and incentives pharmaceutical companies to get FDI.
BRR: What kind of policies are you referring to here?
AA: Well, first of all, the pricing policy is the main concern. The ingredients for making medicines are getting costlier while prices have remained at the same level for a long time. The DRA has to be approached for price increase each time a product starts to make loss, and they have not granted an across-the-board price increase yet. What happens is that eventually a company will either stop making a certain drug or it will just exit the market.
The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection is also crucial for the pharmaceutical industry. Similarly, how effectively companies can register those molecules matters, too. When we send a research-based molecule for a submission at the DRA, there is no protection for original work. The dossiers of research-based companies often get replicated. The industry needs that protection, and data exclusivity and IPR can provide that.
But first and foremost, you have to have a body (DRA) that is populated with the right people who have industry knowledge and who understand the field, and then start empowering them to lay out the policies that are in favour of the industry. Eventually, everything will be in favour of the consumers and the country's economy.
BRR: What has been the impact of devolution on pharmaceutical industry?
AA: The devolution created a chaos in the industry; the companies did not know where to go for to have their matters resolved. Drug registration applications piled up and everything remained at a standstill until the Cabinet passed the DRA bill in late 2012. Our industry demand has always been to have one central body for drug regulatory matters. Everywhere in the world, there is one central regulatory body for the pharmaceutical industry. India also has a central body but there are problems in India, too. However, a central body has been instrumental in attracting good number of foreign investors, getting FDA-approved plants, and enabling the local industry for pharmaceutical exports.
The government here needs to be more proactive and make the environment more conducive so that foreign investors can start coming in and such bodies like FDA and other regulatory bodies can also come in and interact with our regulatory bodies and see where we lack and what we need to do in order to do things right. After all, pharmaceutical is an industry, and you have to treat it like an industry, not like a group of welfare organisation. Commercial proposition has to be viable for the industry to operate in the future.
Pakistan's medicines are one of the cheapest in the region and the world. One still pays two rupees for a pill, which is unmatchable. The pharmaceutical research firm, IMS, rates Pakistan as a top volume seller for drugs - but in terms of value, we lag far, far behind.
BRR: What is the potential for generic drugs in Pakistan?
AA: There will always be a potential for generic drugs in Pakistan. Once a patent runs out, it only makes sense for us to be serving the people with even cheaper or more affordable medicines. Pfizer has its own separate dedicated unit involved in the production of cost effective branded generics being manufactured under the environment of high quality standards, following international level of manufacturing practices as per global standards and procedures like in any other country of the world.
Our generics arm has 10 products, serving areas such as respiratory, cardiovascular, anti-invectives and anti-diabetes. We are selling off-patent molecules at very competitive rates and there is a Pfizer seal of high quality that comes with these products. A pill manufactured in Pakistan will be of the same standard as manufactured by Pfizer anywhere else in the world.
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