The pharmaceutical manufacturers, especially those producing low-cost products, have warned that they would wind up businesses due to financial losses because of increase in the cost of medicine production. Sources told Business Recorder that manufacturers of cheap pharmaceutical products had been approaching Ministry of Health (MoH) for a long time for increase in ex-factory price of some cheap medicines, but they were not allowed to increase the price.
The MoH had formed a price review board to look into the matter and suggest to the government to resolve the issue, but the board failed to respond, they added. They said the pharmaceutical manufacturers have submitted an application to the MoH to allow reasonable increase in medicine prices, but the ministry, instead of granting justified increase to all manufacturers, had increased the prices of a few lifesaving drugs. This unjustified random increase to some of the blue-eyed producers had raised grave concerns and restlessness among the others, they said.
"To seek justice, the manufacturers approached Supreme Court (SC) and the apex court directed the MoH to review the matter, but all in-vain," they said. Justifying their demand for increase, they said MoH had not granted any relief to the industry after 2001 despite the fact that cost of production had increased manifold. It would be amusing that there are a few pharmaceutical products which are smuggled to the neighbouring countries due to very low cost as compared to their production cost.
Sources said a multinational pharmaceutical company manufactures ''augmentin'' and it has reported three times increase in its production during the fiscal year 2009-10, but the medicine is not easily available at medical stores. Like this, companies manufacturing thyroxine, panadol and angised registered increase in production, but medicines are not available in the medical stores due to smuggling, they said.
They said the government allowed increase in power tariff and still increasing the tariff every month without estimating its impact on the industry and restricted the pharmaceutical manufacturers from increase in medicine prices. Besides, the cost of raw material, packaging material and chemicals used in medicine production had increased since 2001, but MoH has not allowed the increase, they said. They warned the government to allow them for increase in ex-factory price due to increase in input cost otherwise manufacturers of cheap pharmaceutical products would shut their businesses to avoid further financial losses.