ISLAMABAD: The regulator and pha­rmaceutical manufacturers have agreed to not raise medicines prices across the board and discuss the inc­rease on a molecule-to-molecule basis.

According to the Pakistan Pharma­c­e­utical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) officials, talks have been ongoing with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) to negotiate the price hike.

PPMA Chairman Syed Farooq Bukhari said although negotiations were going on, no headway has been reached due to the delaying tactics by Drap and the government.

“The Drap and the government are playing back and forth and these delaying tactics have resulted in massive suffering for the industry and people,” Mr Bukhari added.

He said the expectations for a positive result of talks were very slim.

Will discuss increases on ‘case-to-case’ basis

An official of the Ministry of Natio­nal Health Services (NHS) confirmed that meetings have been held with the manufacturers but refused to comment further before any agreement was reached.

The pharmaceutical industry has been demanding the government raise medicine prices as their production cost has increased on the back of significant rupee depreciation.

The matter was to be placed for discussion during the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on March 27, but it was deferred as Drap was unable to brief the committee due to a lack of preparation.

The ECC had directed Drap to prepare the case again and discuss the issue with pharmaceutical industry representatives.

Talking to Dawn, PPMA representative Arshad Mehmood said during the meetings, Drap accepted that the production cost of the industry has increased as the rupee has been devalued to around Rs 300 against the US dollar.

“However we have been told to negotiate the price hike on a molecule-to-molecule basis rather than across the board,” Mr Mehmood added. “Now we are Drap which molecules prices have increased and they become unviable to produce.”

Talking to Dawn, PPMA Central Execu­tive Committee’s member Usman Shaukat said: “On Tuesday we had a meeting with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Jehanzeb Khan and discussed issues with him. We hope our concerns will be addressed soon.”

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2023