Pakistan's Pharmaceutical Industry In Crisis

Today, Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry is supplying a range of drugsand medicines valued at 18 billion Pakistani rupees ($449.3 million), sufficient to virtually satisfy the demand of its 140 million population, according to Edward Weiss of Asia-Pacific Trade Press and Karachi-based Amanullah Hussain, writing exclusively for the Marketletter.

The industry has maintained reasonable growth in recent years, despite a general downturn in economic activity and increase in civil strife. A recent official survey has estimated that average annual growth is 14%, and noted that the industry is entirely in the private sector and that 70% of total sales come from local production, with the remainder being imports.

30 Foreign Firms Do Nearly Two-Thirds Of Total Production There are 30 foreign companies in Pakistan, which account for nearly two-thirds of total local production and employ some 25,000 people. Included are 12 USA firms, nine UK companies, five German and three Swiss, as well as others from Japan, Holland and France. These firms are said to have ensured that Pakistani-produced pharmaceuticals have a high product quality with operational efficiency, underscoring the valuable role of such firms operating in Pakistan.