The April 17th announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Central government is intended to bring in a law to make prescription of generic medicines mandatory has come under severe flak from the doyens of pharma industry in Tamil Nadu.

Responding to the comment of the Prime Minister, several industry leaders in Tamil Nadu have said that the decision of the government will pave the way for the closure of all manufacturing units, not only in the state but in the entire country.

“If the government go ahead with with its decision to frame a law in parliament to amend the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules for making mandatory generic prescriptions, it will definitely kill the entire pharma industry in the country. In addition to this, there could be an all India shortage of all kinds of drugs. This step will force to close about 9,500 pharma industrial units from the sector which serves bread and butter for more than fifty lakh people of various category jobs”, said J Jayaseelan, secretary of the pharmacy division of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA).

The government is gearing up for amendment without considering the actual fact. Ninety nine percent of the pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the country are manufacturing branded generics. Only the MNCs are the suppliers of highly priced patented or branded products. Before moving ahead, the government should discuss with the experts in the industry and various pharma associations to assess the situation for the sake of the people. Majority of the drugs manufactured and supplied in India are branded generics, not patented ones.

According to him, the reason for the exorbitant prices for patented drugs is due to the policy adopted by earlier government.  Since India signed the pact for product patent with World Trade Organisation (WTO), the country cannot produce cheap new drugs after 2005. The manufacturers are not allowed to make new drugs through different process. This has led to the production and sale of new life saving drugs at exorbitant prices by multinational pharma giants.

“Before 2005, India used to have process patents which would endorse Indian companies to freely manufacture any new or old drug through a different process apart from the one adopted by the innovator by application of reverse engineering. This made the ‘Made in India’ drugs cheapest in the world. Now, the newly marketed drugs, particularly for cancers, heart diseases, diabetes and many other life threatening diseases, are out of the reach of majority of patients due to their exorbitant prices”, Jayaseelan added.

In an appeal to the government, Jayaseelan, who is also the chairman of Tamil Nadu chapter of the Indian Drugs Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) wanted the government  to refrain from its decision to move a law in the Parliament for generic prescription. Rather, steps are needed to save India’s trillion-rupee annual pharmaceutical market. According to him neither the Indian pharma companies nor the physicians are responsible for the high cost of treatments or for the exorbitant prices of patented drugs, but the government policy. He said in every commodity, brand- value is built through strong and stringent quality control measures.

 He pointed out that a doctor cannot ensure the quality of a drug if pure generic version (chemical name) of it is sold. So, at last the patients will land at the mercy of the chemists who will always prefer to sell the brands for maximum profits. The Indian pharma industry provides quality drugs at affordable prices.