National Pharmacy Week celebrated in India

The Indian Pharmaceutical Association in collaboration with Delhi Pharmaceutical Trust celebrated the 59^th National Pharmacy Week between November 16, 2020 and November 22, 2020. The National Pharmacy Week was celebrated under the theme

Theme: Pharmacists: Frontline Health Professionals

The Indian Pharmaceutical Association has been organizing the National Pharmacy Week every year during the third week of November. This year the 59^th National Pharmacy Week was celebrated.

Indian Pharmaceutical Association

The Association was established in 1935 as the United Provinces Pharmaceutical Association. Later it was renamed as Indian Pharmaceutical Association. The headquarters of the association is located in Mumbai.

Pharma Sector of India

India is the largest provider of generic drugs to the world. The Indian pharmaceutical industry accounts to 50 percentage of global vaccine demand. Around 80% of the antiretroviral drugs that are used to combat AIDS is being supplied by the Indian pharmaceutical companies. The Indian Pharmaceutical market is the third largest Market in the world in terms of volume. The cost of Pharmaceutical manufacturing is the lowest in the world. It is lower than that of the United States.

Dependence on China a major concern

Though India is the largest supplier of high-quality medicines, the Indian Pharmaceutical sector is highly dependent on China especially for its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API). Around 70 percentage of the total drug requirements of India comes from China.

The production cost of API in China is 40% cheaper than that of India.

What is Hollowing out in Indian Pharmaceutical sector?

“Hollowing out” is the deterioration of a manufacturing sector. Here the producers move towards low-cost facilities overseas. Currently the Indian Pharmaceutical sector is facing hollowing out of manufacturers.

Price capping

The Indian Pharmaceutical sector is also facing pressure from price capping of the government. In order to make the generic medicines more affordable to the largest section of population, the Government of India had introduced several price capping in the sector. This has had a huge impact on the net profits of the Pharma Companies.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2020