'Multinational pharmaceutical companies fleecing common people'

The problems of the Pakistan pharmaceutical industry are growing with every passing day and it seems as if the health ministry has turned deaf ears towards this serious matter. There is a huge gap between medicine prices of the multinational and national companies.
Common people in Pakistan have no other option when they go to doctors who usually prescribe medicines being made by multinationals. However, a source divulged the following data to this correspondent, which speaks volumes about the way multinational pharmaceutical companies are minting money without any qualms of conscience.
A source divulged the data to this correspondent, which speaks volumes about the way multinational pharmaceutical companies are minting money without any qualms of conscience.
A Health Ministry official on the condition of anonymity said a Price Control Committee was established by the ministry in 2004 but instead of resolving the problem, the incompetence of the committee allegedly encouraged the multinational companies to play havoc with the lives of innocent people as well as with the local pharmaceutical industry.
He said the multinationals instead of investing in Pakistan are investing on doctors for the sake of their own personal benefits. The doctors prescribe expensive medicines of the multinational companies and thus in return they are showered favours by the multinational companies.
He said that during the last twenty year, not a single penny had been invested in local pharmaceutical industry and research sector by any multinational company. A list reveals that there is a huge difference between the prices of medicines manufactured by the national and multinational companies, thus making the situation worse and complicated for the local pharma industry of Pakistan to survive.
When the Drug Controller Islamabad Dr Farnaz Malik was contacted in this connection she said the Price Control Committee was established in 2004 and before it the prices of medicines were fixed under a completely different criteria individual basis.
Before the establishment of the PRC the medicine prices were fixed on individual bases but now are fixed on the basis of the molecule or formulation of the medicines, which has also helped a lot to control the price increase. The committee also fixed the prices on regional basis. It is our foremost effort to fix the prices as minimum as possible, she said.