{"id":6188,"date":"2020-02-06T15:03:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T09:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=6188"},"modified":"2020-02-06T15:03:49","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T09:33:49","slug":"indias-pharma-sector-indias-dependency-on-china-for-pharma-bulk-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/indias-pharma-sector-indias-dependency-on-china-for-pharma-bulk-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s pharma sector: India\u2019s dependency on China for pharma bulk drugs."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance: health<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PHARMA-585x400.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6189\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PHARMA-585x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"585\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PHARMA-585x400.jpg 585w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PHARMA-585x400-150x103.jpg 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/PHARMA-585x400-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Context:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As \u2018Coronavirus\u2019 or 2019 n-CoV spreads rapidly across the world, it has given rise to apprehensions over whether the epidemic will impact the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from China (the largest producer of APIs) to India and other countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Cautions in India\u2019s pharma industry:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s pharma industry is already worried.<br \/>\n\u2022 It has hinted that a rise in medicine costs cannot be ruled out even as inventories are comfortable for three months.<br \/>\n\u2022 The 2019 n-CoV cannot travel through consignments, as the virus can survive for just four or five days in the open.<br \/>\n\u2022 India imports 68-69 per cent of its API requirements from China, which amounts to $2.4 billion.<br \/>\n\u2022 These imports are used to manufacture key medicines such as paracetamol, metformin, ofloxacin, metronidazole, ampicillin and amoxycillin.<br \/>\n\u2022 Supply disruptions have occurred in the past \u2014 during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for instance, these units were shut down over environmental concerns. A similar cutback took place in 2018.<br \/>\n\u2022 It is noteworthy that these shocks, in fact, boost India\u2019s API exports, which account for about a fourth of the country\u2019s total pharma exports of $20 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Pharmaceuticals-Sep-2019.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6190\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Pharmaceuticals-Sep-2019.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"715\" height=\"310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Pharmaceuticals-Sep-2019.jpg 715w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Pharmaceuticals-Sep-2019-150x65.jpg 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Pharmaceuticals-Sep-2019-300x130.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Self sufficiency needed in India\u2019s pharma sector:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Centre has rightly acknowledged the need for self-sufficiency in APIs, setting up an \u2018inter-departmental\u2019 task force in 2018 to look into the issue.<br \/>\n\u2022 It is another matter that earlier committees have delved into the issue of boosting API output.<br \/>\n\u2022 China\u2019s cost of production is way cheaper than India\u2019s; even so, domestic output must be regarded as a strategic prerogative.<br \/>\n\u2022 It will also enhance India\u2019s negotiating capacity in future trade engagements with China. The public sector may have to take the lead here, while raising existing R&amp;D incentives for the private players.<br \/>\n\u2022 It is unfortunate that the Budget overlooked this aspect.<br \/>\n\u2022 The now-struggling Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd can be roped in for producing essential APIs.<br \/>\n\u2022 Its role in ramping up the production of tetracycline during the 1994 plague epidemic is instructive in this regard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Way forward:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2015, the \u2018Katoch committee\u2019 put out a set of recommendations on reviving API production, which include reviving PSUs for manufacturing critical drugs such as penicillin and paracetamol.<br \/>\n\u2022 The setting up of mega parks with common effluent treatment plants, testing facilities and captive power plants has been mooted.<br \/>\n\u2022 On the financial side, the panel has suggested setting up a professionally managed equity fund for producing APIs and duty exemptions for capital goods imports.<br \/>\n\u2022 These facilities can developed to world class standards, restoring the recent damage to India\u2019s reputation on the quality front.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Governance: health Context: As \u2018Coronavirus\u2019 or 2019 n-CoV spreads rapidly across the world, it has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,18],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-6188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-general-studies-ii","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6191,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions\/6191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}