"The Government should come up with a positive and forward looking drug policy to carry forward what the Indian pharma industry could achieve over the years and should not impose the TRIPS Plus provisions on the industry which would lead to monopolistic situation and take lifesaving drugs beyond the reach of the common man," said Suresh G Kare, president of the Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA).
Addressing the 44th annual day celebrations of IDMA in Mumbai today, Kare noted that the government's policy of progressive decontrol had produced good results in the past as can be seen from the growth registered by the pharma industry over the last three decades. Starting with 345 drugs under price control under the first drug policy of 1978, the subsequent policies progressively reduced the number, which finally came down to 74 in the 1995 policy. Further decontrol and intention of replacing price control with price monitoring was announced in the 2002 policy. Unfortunately, that could not be implemented as the courts stayed the new price control order. The size of the industry, which was negligible in 1965, grew to over Rs. 42,000 crore last year with exports contributing nearly Rs. 17,000 crore.
This performance could have been better if the 2002 policy was implemented. Price control in the existing form has not benefited either the consumer or the industry. Many good drugs disappeared from the market, as the prices fixed by NPPA were unremunerative to the manufacturers and hence were replaced by profitable, high value newer drugs, thereby increasing the cost of treatment to the patients. Indian drug prices are the lowest in the world and are only 1/5th to 1/20th of drug prices in many countries.
Noting that the pharma exports are projected to cross Rs. 25,000 crore within two years and Rs. 60,000 crore by 2010, Kare said that India had the largest number of US FDA approved plants outside the US and our exports to the regulated markets are growing. Thanks to large pool of technically qualified manpower and management expertise, Indian companies are slowly spreading across the world by setting up manufacturing plants, acquiring companies and entering into joint ventures, which is a clear sign of progress.
He said, "IDMA now has representation in all parts of the country with four state boards and it enrolled 50 members during the last year, taking the overall membership to 600".
IDMA's Best Patent Award for the year 2005-06 was given to Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Hyderabad and patent appreciation awards were given to Natco Pharma, Hyderabad, USV Ltd., Mumbai, Aurobindo Pharma, Hyderabad and Themis Medicare, Mumbai.
IDMA Quality Excellence Award - Gold standard for this year was given to Micro Labs, Goa and the Silver was given to Micro Lab's Hosur Unit. The same award in the category of Rs. 50-100 crore was given to Parentaral Drugs, Indore and for units less than Rs. 25 crore was given to Flemingo Pharma, Thaloja. Various other awards for excellence in research and education were also distributed to the winners at the function.