ISLAMABAD: As paracetamol painkillers continue to remain in short supply across the country, a pharmacists’ association has claimed that the shortage is being engineered to create space for a new, high-dosage variant of the medicine being sold at three times higher rates.

In a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan and available with Dawn, the Pakistan Young Pharmacist Association (PYPA) noted that the price of a 500mg paracetamol tablet had already been increased from Re0.90 to Rs1.70 during the last four years.

Now, the association alleged, a shortage was being created so that patients move to the more expensive 665mg tablet.

“It’s strange that while the price of 500mg tablet is Rs1.70, the 665mg variant is selling for as high as Rs5.68,” PYPA general secretary Dr Furqan Ibrahim told Dawn — meaning the citizens would be paying an additional Rs4 per tablet for an extra quantity of just 165mg.

“We fear that a shortage of the 500mg medicine has been created deliberately so that health practitioners start prescribing 665mg tablets,” he said.

Paracetamol — a generic name for a medication used to treat mild to moderate pain and reduce fever — is an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, meaning it can be obtained from pharmacies without a prescription.

In Pakistan, it’s available under several brand names — such as Panadol, Calpol, Disprol and Febrol — in both tablet and oral suspension forms.

The medicine has recently disappeared from many pharmacies across the country amid rising Covid-19 and dengue cases.

The PYPA said the medicine was still in short supply even after the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic has largely subsided.

In the letter to the prime minister, the association also alleged that raising the medicine’s price by just one paisa (Re0.01) per tablet would help the pharma industry reap an additional profit of Rs50 million a year.

It urged the premier to hold an inquiry and expose the elements involved in the “conspiracy” and save the patients from paying an additional amount for just 165mg extra medicine.

Dr Ibrahim said the 665mg paracetamol tablets had been banned in most European countries, whereas in Australia it wasn’t available without a prescription.

“Similarly, 325mg and 500mg paracetamol tablets are more common in the United States. It’s being done because paracetamol poisoning has been continuously increasing there. We also need to take steps in this regard before it’s too late,” he said.

However, a senior official of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), asking not to be named, said the formulation of 500mg and 665mg tablets was slightly different.

“Majority of the patients use 500mg tablets and we will make sure that the supply of this variant would not be discontinued. The addition of the 665mg tablet will give a choice to patients,” he said.

When asked about the huge difference in prices of the two variants, the official said that the price of 500mg paracetamol tablets would also be increased soon, as a case under the “hardship category” had been forwarded to the federal cabinet.

Drug manufacturers earlier warned that they couldn’t keep producing the medicine at the existing price due to a growing cost of raw material being imported from China.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022