The prices of broad spectrum antibiotics may come down sharply in the coming months as the price of Penicillin G (pen G), the main ingredient for making these antibiotics, have come down substantially in the international market. From US $20 per billion units a year ago, the price of pen G has come down to around $9 at present.

According to experts in the field, after continued fluctuation for a long time, the price of pen G is settling down around the present level. After the phenomenal rise, the pen G price has come down considerably mainly due to the improved availability of the product in China. Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, cloxacillin and cephalexin are some of the antibiotics which may become cheaper due to the lower prices of pen G.

Almost the entire requirement of Pen G is imported from China as the domestic players, with the exception of SPIC Pharmaceuticals, had stopped production of pen G as the price became unviable due to the entry of cheap Chinese products into the Indian pharmaceutical market. Though it was cheap till a year ago, the prices started skyrocketing since last year due to some certain policy changes of Chinese government.

Pen G is the key raw material for making antibiotics used to treat diseases such as pneumonia, syphilis, meningitis, septicemia, etc. As the domestic pharma companies closed their units, around 200 ton of pen G is imported from China every month for making these antibiotics. Major companies involved in manufacturing the anti-biotic medicines using pen G include Aurobindo Pharma, Nectar, Alembic, and Surya to name a few.

In fact, price of the pen G had risen so steeply that some Indian pharma companies were toying with the idea of resuming production of pen G, which they had closed when the price became unviable due to the entry of cheap Chinese products.

The major contributory reason for the steep hike in the prices of pen G during the last one year was the sharp cut in production of pen G in China after the Chinese government asked a large number of pharma units to close down their units due to the stringent environment standards imposed in China following the scare that the Chinese-made foods and medicines contained a chemical used in anti-freeze compounds.