Decline in drug prices possible if DRAP desires, claim drug lawyers & pharmacists

Islamabad :There can be a five-fold decline in the prices of medicines if the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the Ministry of Health are truly sincere about providing cheap but efficacious medicines to the poor patients of Pakistan.

A claim to this effect was made during a joint press conference addressed by representatives of the Pakistan Young Pharmacists Association (PYPA), Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum (PDLF) and Insaf Doctors Forum (IDF) here on Thursday.

Talking to the media, Dr. Noor Muhammad Mahar, President of (PDLY said, the mandate of DRAP is to provide quality medicines to all Pakistanis at economical prices. “There are more than 81,000 medicines registered by the Ministry of Health and DRAP. As per Section 7(8) of Drugs Act 1976, Single-ingredient drugs shall be registered generally by their generic names while compound drugs shall be registered generally by their proprietary names. “DRAP, after getting huge bribe from the Club of 50, is issuing registration letters with brand names instead of generic names, which is a criminal violation of Drugs Act 1976 and is the main reason why medicines are so expensive and beyond the reach of the common man in Pakistan. There can be a five-fold decline in the prices of medicines if DRAP issues registration letters of 81,000 single ingredient drugs by their generic names,” Dr. Mahar stated.

Dr. Mahar further said, “We have filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) to revoke all registration letters issued by brand names, and to issue registration letters with generic names in accordance with the law. Today was the date of hearing is LHC but instead of filling a reply, DRAP, in connivance with the top brass of the Ministry of Health, is trying to bring changes in Drugs Act with mala-fide intention,” he alleged.

Dr. Mahar further pointed out that despite a written letter sent to DRAP and the Ministry of Health for inclusion of their organizations as member of the consultative meeting on ‘Proposed Changes in Drugs Act 1976, DRAP Act 2012 and Rules,’ and despite orders to this effect issued by the Secretary Cabinet, they have not done so.

Dr. Saeed Mustafa, general secretary of IDF, said that right under the nose of DRAP and the Health Ministry, Shifa International Hospital (SIH) Islamabad is selling medicines to indoor patients at 10-25% higher prices than the maximum retail prices fixed by the federal government, which is a criminal violation of Sections 23 and 27 of the Drugs Act. “The CEO pf DRAP Aslam Afghani has appointed the son of Afzal Ahmed, General Manager of SIH as the Federal Drug Inspector in violation of all rules and regulations. Hassan Afzal cannot be appointed at any position in DRAP under Section 18 of DRAP Act 2012, as his father is directly involved in the business of therapeutic goods in SIH,” he alleged.

Dr. Saeed Mustafa further said that more than 4,000 poor patients are dying every day due to non-availability of life-saving medicines or availability of extremely expensive medicines. IDF announced a countrywide movement “against the brutal and corruption-friendly attitude of DRAP and the Health Ministry. We will unveil the corrupt practices being done in the health sector and will draw a call attention notice in the Parliament soon by PTI parliamentarians,” he warned.

Dr. Haroon Yousaf, president of PYPA said the Cabinet Division has already taken the notice of DRAP officials who are openly availing first class air tickets, five-star hotel accommodations, and luxury shopping in the name of a visit to a factory abroad for registration of imported medicines. “This act of corruption and bribe cannot be legitimized. But still, the law enforcement agencies are not taking any legal action against officials of DRAP,” he pointed out.

Dr. Muhammad Ahmed, vice president of PYPA said Arshad Farooq Faheem, who was first CEO of DRAP had designed and constructed a software for the serialization/barcode on packing of medicines, which was approved in the second meeting of the Policy Board of DRAP held on March 28, 2013 and that software was made free of cost by Arshad Farooq Faheem. “This software was supposed to be given to pharmaceutical companies free of cost. But now the Minister and Secretary of Health, CEO of DRAP and a few other officials have made their own four companies that will sell the software which was made for free by Arshad Farooq. These private companies will charge 30 paisas per pack from pharmaceutical companies. It is pertinent to mention here that more than 7 billion packs are manufactured annually in Pakistan, which means that corruption worth more than Rs2 billion per year will be done by the above officials in the name of serialization,” he alleged.

Dr. Sehar Bashir, joint secretary of PYPA said that as per DRAP Act, no one can obstruct an inspector in exercise of any power conferred upon him by or under the Act and obstruction shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of one year. “Hamza Zubaid Malik, assistant director Administration at DRAP, has issued a circular dated September 22, 2017 saying that: “All Deputy Directors/Federal Inspector of Drugs and Assistant Directors of Field offices of DRAP are advised to take prior approval from the Officer Incharge of their respective field office for conduction inspections/surprise visits/market surveys etc., as these officer incharges have been entrusted with Administrative Control/Authority of their respective field office by the Competent Authority.” He said, “This circular clearly shows the intent of high-ups.”

As usual, the organisers concluded the press conference with an appeal to the prime minister, the president, chief justice, chief of army, chief minister and Parliament to make a joint investigation team to probe the corruption and embezzlements in DRAP; reduce the exorbitant medicine prices in the best interest of poor masses; and recover the all extra prices charged by companies.

Responding to the allegations, the Ministry of Health issued a press release saying that the “so-called Young Pharmacist Association of Pakistan and Drug Lawyer Form is always working in support of Everest Pharma, which is involved in illegal manufacturing of unregistered and banned sex drugs and lacks basic understanding of regulation of drugs. These elements are misleading the public with respect to prices of drugs for the sake of their vested interest.”

The Ministry has alleged that these “culprits are wrongly using decades’ old data, alleging that thousands of patients are dying, which is totally incorrect. The actual facts are that DRAP and Ministry of NHSR&C are proactive and have sincere approach for ensuring hepatitis C quality efficacious and economic versions of the new research products at the earliest availability of Pakistani patient.

Even drugs of rare genotypes have been made available. More 27 companies are locally manufacturing Sofosbuvir, first miracle drug for hepatitis C and more than 27 are manufacturing Daclatasvir and other more efficacious drugs for hepatitis C which has made abundant supply of these drugs for needy patients.

The spokesperson of DRAP said, “Unfortunately, companies who failed the quality criteria for their products and were not approved by the registration board are misleading the media through pressure tactics to get their non-compliance products registered. We will not accept any pressure and there will be no compromise on the quality of drugs as it is a question of the life of patients.” The statement implied that poor patients in Pakistan are getting cheap and efficacious drugs right now. One only needs to talk to a few people on the street to appreciate their plight. The availability of cheap and efficacious medicines in Pakistan remains a far cry, regardless of the character of officials running DRAP and the Ministry of Health.