For the past 10 years, Pakistan has been building up its drug manufacturing facilities. Twenty-nine international manufacturers have facilities in Pakistan putting the value of the market at $1.5 billion according an Oct. 19 article on in-PharmaTechnologist.com
Zahid Saeed, managing director of Indus Pharma and vice chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, says that while Pakistan has the ability to manufacture all drug dosages forms in all major disease segments, it is still limited in terms of capabilities. He expects that to change within the next couple of years.
Speaking at an industry conference he said that conversion costs are among the lowest in the world in Pakistan and its central location allows for low freight costs.
Addressing issues of quality control Saeed pointed out that drug courts are operating in various regions of Pakistan. These courts can provide regulatory authentication for medicines that are exported. Pakistan is already exporting products to highly regulated markets such as Canada and Singapore he said.
As to the question of protection of intellectual property, Pakistan is in compliance with the TRIPPS agreement and has had IP legislation in place since 2000.
