The second Covid-19 wave has hit the pharma hub in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area hard as the cost of raw material, particularly active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), has trebled due to the ban on international cargo flights and delayed clearance by China.
The pharma hub produces several primary life-saving, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral drugs that are exported worldwide. After the Covid-19 outbreak, pharma companies had also been producing drugs to fight coronavirus and these medicines are being supplied across the country.
The cost escalation is primarily due to the ban on international cargo flights and delayed clearance by China that supplies 85% of the API, a key drug manufacturing material, to India.
Rajesh Gupta, the president of the Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association, said: “There is a big demand of API after the second wave, but imports are on a slide, leading to the shortage.”
Raw material for Covid drugs costlier
The drugs for which the cost of raw material has shot up include paracetamol ( ₹ 350 to ₹790 a kg), Propylene Glycol ( ₹140 to ₹400 a kg) and Ivermectin ( ₹18,000 to ₹52,000 a kg). Similarly, the cost of API for Doxycycline has gone up from ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 a kg and Azithromycin ₹8,000 to ₹12,000 a kg. All these medicines are used for treatment of Covid-19 patients.
He said the pharma companies were finding it difficult to boost the production of medicines, including the ones needed for Covid patients.
Packing material cost goes up, too
Gupta said that the cost of packing material was also weighing heavy on the industry. He said the price of the main packing material, PVC, has gone up from ₹110 to ₹180 a kg. There has also been a 25% increase in the price of mono carton and corrugated packaging material, while aluminum prices are up by 40%.
“The industrial association has brought the matter to the notice of the state government, but the price control of drugs is an issue that pertains to the Centre,” said state drug controller Navneet Marwah.
API-monitoring cell sought
Gupta said the Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association (HDMA) has urged the Government of India to set up an API-monitoring cell for regulating the prices of bulk drugs.
FACT CHECK
The BBN industrial belt has about 650 pharma units. The ₹40,000-crore drug industry in Himachal Pradesh accounts for every second drug produced in the market.
Indian pharma companies import more than 65% of APIs from China. There are 67 such ingredients that are sourced from different locations in China. They include B12, B1, B6 and vitamin E ingredients and fermentation process-based APIs.
Both active and inactive ingredients come together to form any medication. The API is the portion of a drug that has therapeutic effects on the body, the chemical compound that makes one feel better. Inactive ingredients are the non-medicinal, but important and necessary, components of the drug.
Source: The Hindustan Times
