Country to have new national medicine policy in a couple of weeks: adviser

Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that the government is all set to announce new National Medicine Policy within the next two weeks.

He, while addressing the 5th Pharma Summit organised by the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) here on Wednesday, said that work on medicine policy had already been completed aimed at reforming the pharmaceutical industry of the country.

The adviser said that besides the National Medicine Policy, five-year action plan was also devised for its implementation, adding that regulatory system was also being made predictable and easy for growing the pharma sector in the country.

He said that the government was committed to reforming the pharma sector and all bottle necks were being removed in that regard.

The adviser to the PM also conceded that there were more difficulties due to presence of interest groups.

Dr Mirza said efforts were also being made that only best possible people could run the regulatory authority.

The adviser also urged the pharma sector to shun practice of unethical promotion of certain products.

Speaking on the occasion, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said the government was committed to enhancing exports by removing all the obstacles and roadblocks.

Special focus was also being given to increase the exports' volume through tariff rationalization, trade-related investment, institutional reforms and easing of business regulations, he added.

Razak Dawood said textile was leading export of the country but now new sectors including pharma were identified, which could enhance the country's exports.

He said pharma industry was very important for us and strategy was being developed to reform it for enhancing exports.

Dawood said that the total population of African countries was around 1.3 billion with a GDP of $2.7 trillion and the government also wanted to double our trade with them in the next five years.

He urged the pharma sector to look towards African countries for capturing their markets urging the pharma industry to make all out efforts to enhance the current volume of over $300 million pharma exports and take it to $3 billion.

Dawood said revitalizing the exports of the pharma sector was one of government's priorities to boost national exchequer.

A special pharmaceutical export promotion committee has also been set up to encourage production and exports of medicines and medical products, he added.

PPMA chairperson Mian Zakaur Rehman said that Pakistan had the strongest pharma industry in all of Muslim-majority countries and 98 percent of the country's requirement was being fulfilled locally.

The pharma sector has witnessed 20 percent growth in the last two years, he said, and added that we could fulfill the requirement of the whole region as Allah Almighty has blessed us with the raw materials.

Dawood said that there were tremendous opportunities for the pharma sector to export their products to African countries.

He said the summit would discuss in detail issues related to functioning, regulation, control, growth, and advancement of the Pakistani pharmaceutical industry.

Former State Minister and ECO Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Tariq Ikram said Pakistan had rich potential to export phamra products to the other countries.

The current export volume of pharma sector could easily be enhanced to $5.4 billion from $300 million, he added.

Professor Dr Zaheerud Din Babar, Professor of Medicine and Healthcare at the University of Huddersfield, Chairman of the Summit Dr Kaiser Waheed, and notables of the Pakistani pharmaceutical industry, Ali Akhai, Khalid Mahmood, Javed Gulam Mohammad, Zahid Saeed, Osman Khalid Waheed, Nusrat Munshi, Hamid Raza, Haroon Qassim, Dr Shahzad Khan, Dr Uzair Nagra, and others, also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the issues and challenges facing the pharma industries.