Turkey ,which is emerging as a dynamic location for pharmaceutical trade has a proactive growth strategy in place till 2023. The country has the necessary knowledge base, infrastructure, and geostrategic location to attract global pharmaceutical R&D and could become a formidable global player in the pharmaceutical industry, aver experts.
As the pharmaceutical industry creates value through innovation, by tapping its potential,Turkey which now boasts the strongest and most dynamic economy in the Eurasian region, is chalking out an innovative strategy to achieve its 2023 goals to become a regional/global pharmaceutical powerhouse and net exporter.
The Association of Research based Pharmaceutical Companies referred to as the Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology (AIFD) , has suggested an export-focused plan of action to develop Turkey’s pharmaceutical industry into a global R&D and production centre and regional shared service centre location.
In order to develop this, AIFD has called to develop a basic and clinical research competency and services. There is need to improve the R&D competency and increasing national and foreign direct investment; thereby making Turkey’s pharmaceutical sector a leader in R&D. It has also called for developing production competency by increasing the manufacturing capacity of specific high value-added product groups.
The AIFD is also working to ensure that Turkey transforms into a Regional Management and Service Center location for the pharmaceutical industry. The prerequisites for such an action plan are the formulation and implementation of a long-term policy to support innovation in the field of health sciences that makes R&D and value- added drug production the highest priority.
The Turkish government will provide grants that support innovation and implement regulations that protect international property rights (IPR), put in place a legal and administrative framework that counterbalances the concerns of public health and the pharmaceutical sector, which should entail a realistic budget to sustain the growth of the sector. The recommendation is to increase pharmaceutical expenditures as a percentage of GDP to 1.35 per cent.
According to a PwC report, the AIFD is ready to do its part to help the Turkish population age healthy, contribute to national economic growth, and strengthen the country’s global competitiveness by promoting pharmaceutical innovation, R&D and capital investment.
The AIFD help tip the foreign trade balance in Turkey’s favour, views PwC.
Given the favourable economic development over the last few years, the government of Turkey has been able to increase spending for healthcare to achieve its 2023 vision. To this end, the Government aims to make Turkey one of the world’s top 10 economies in health services by 2023 by increasing R&D expenditures to three per cent of GDP and by increasing exports to US$ 500 billion.
Moreover, according to the AIFD strategy, Turkey should become the Eurasian production base for medium- and high-level technology products. Taking into account the country’s current macroeconomic conditions, political stability and increasing economic efficiency, AIFD considers these R&D targets to be realistic.
According to an analysis report by the World Bank of the country’s drug production standards, technology and capacity , Turkey is home to 300 companies and many of these are largely into marketing of pharmaceuticals which included importing from global markets. Of its 42 leading manufacturing facilities, 14 were global pharma units. There were over a lakh of people employed in the pharma sector as against 25,000 in 2007 of which over 50 per cent have a university degree which included pharmacists, physicians, chemical engineers, chemists and biologists.
In 2004, Turkey implemented the Health Care Transformation Program which ushered a major development in public access to health services and treatment. This saw the physician consultation per capita increase by five times from 1.7 per cent in 1994 to 7.7 per cent in 2011. The average life span in Turkey also increased 24 per cent in the last 30 years and has now reached 74 years. Innovative drugs played an important role in increasing in life expectancy.
According to a study by Columbia University and the National Bureau of Economic Research, innovative drugs attributed to 75 per cent of the increase in life expectancy in the 30 countries surveyed, including Turkey.
According to PwC , if the Turkish government could implement the necessary structural changes and effectively promote innovation in the health care system, the pharmaceutical industry can be the driving force in helping to achieve the Turkish Government’s public health and economic targets.
However in order to achieve sustainable progress in health services, Turkey must also focus on improving its competitive position. Currently, Turkey lags behind other emerging pharmaceutical companies, now referred to as "pharmerging” countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, in global pharmaceutical investment.
While the Turkish pharmaceutical sector is ranked 16th in terms of market value, it is 36th in terms of the clinical research conducted and the volume of pharmaceutical exports. Countries that invest in R&D, develop technology, and effectively convert this technology into products become more competitive.
Innovative drugs create added value in the pharmaceutical industry and are key to a country’s economic advancement. While global investment in innovative drug R&D is US$ 120 billion each year, Turkey’s share is only US$ 60 million, representing only a 0.039 per cent of global R&D. Currently, drug production is Turkey is focused on low value-added products, with high value-added products being imported.
Moreover, R&D aimed at developing new molecules (core research) has never been done in Turkey. As production of innovative drugs increases, the added value of the drugs produced will also increase accordingly.
Turkey’s competitors in the health services sector made global pharmaceutical investment a priority in the 1990s and were able to became net pharmaceutical exporters through strategic governmental planning.
In 2012, Turkey revised its regulations on issue of tenders to trade in the region. According to pharma companies in Karnataka which include Bal Pharma, it is imperative that the government streamlines the processes and procedures for pharmaceutical drugs entering the marketplace which adhere to good manufacturing practices (GMP), timely registration, effective pricing, and reimbursements to ensure that the drugs become available to patients in a time-frame comparable to other developed countries. The increased speed to market will in turn, attract new investment in innovative R&D.
Bal Pharma is present in Turkey with two active pharmaceutical ingredients. These are Glicalizide which is an oral hypoglycemic anti-diabetic drug and Benzydamine for pain relief and anti-inflammatory treatment of inflammatory conditions. The company is now keen to expand its portfolio of bulk drugs going by the generic drug manufacturing capability among the Turkey pharma industry, Indian APIs will stand to gain.
There is a huge manufacturing industry of pharmaceuticals present in Turkey. This indicates need for high volumes of APIs said Archana Dubey Mitra, vice president, Exports Bal Pharma.
The formulation industry is large and there is a demand for huge volumes of active pharmaceutical ingredients. But the country has challenges like the pricing and stringent regulations on par with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which is unrelenting on quality dossier submission, added Mitra.