Pakistani drug manufacturers are not allowed third party contracts - a facility which gives India and Bangladesh a clear edge over Pakistan. The current legislation that restricts contact manufacturing of medicines should be amended in a way so that it may help local manufacturers reach efficient scales and become more competitive. With third party contact manufacturing, Pakistan can achieve more industrialisation since a large number of companies will then offer to produce drugs on behalf of the established brands. This will also open more employment opportunities.
Third party manufacturing would bring in foreign investment as the international drug manufacturers would prefer to outsource medicine production to Pakistani firms in order to offset their own high production costs. There is an urgent need for reforms in the existing regulatory framework to unlock the potential of scale within the local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector to produce essential drugs locally and also give local manufacturers an access to global markets.
Fiza Feroz
Karachi
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