New drugs made locally will be accepted sans registration delays
The government this week assuaged fears of local manufacturers of pharmaceuticals by thanking them for their continuous supply of drugs to the market during the prevailing crisis situation in the country amidst reducing procedures for drug registration.
More products are needed in the market although around 30 products are being supplied to the market at present. New products will be accepted by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation without registration and a policy decision can be taken with regard to this for a period of six months or for one year depending on the quality of the drugs produced, said Prof. Channa Jayasumana, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals who was the Chief Guest at the Sri Lanka Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Interactive Session held at the Hilton Colombo Residencies on Monday.
He said 94 per cent of the products are supplied by the private sector and steps will be taken to restrict certain type of products such as amoxicillin and other local products available in the local market.” Why are we importing these products when these are sufficiently available in the local market? A licence can be issued for exports of new pharmaceutical products to earn much needed US Dollars.”
Referring to issues faced by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) by the local industry for production of certain type of drugs, these will be analysed carefully under stringent measures like in other countries before approval is granted. With regard to payments to the state some companies have exceeded Rs. 1.5 billion and the state is struggling to recover that money. Meanwhile Cabinet approval has been granted for the purchase of locally manufactured pharmaceutical drugs and other medicinal equipment.
President of the Sri Lanka Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association Sanjaya Jayaratne said today’s session is focused on developing the local pharmaceutical industry in Sri Lanka. There were about 9-10 Sri Lankan companies manufacturing pharmaceuticals from 1960 onwards.
But with the opening of the economy in the country many pharmaceuticals came into the country and local manufacturers had limited space to grow as they had to compete with imported pharmaceuticals. In 2012 the government initiated a bi-lateral agreement passed through a Cabinet paper that came into effect in 2014. The result was the growth of the local manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs. In 2014 local manufacturers supplied 15-20 pharmaceutical drugs and today they supply 120 products to the state sector. Meanwhile several pharmaceutical manufacturing plants are expected to be set up in the future. “We are on the way to become self sufficient in pharmaceutical manufacture. All our neighbours – India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan are self sufficient in pharmaceuticals except Sri Lanka. This can also bring foreign exchange to the country by exporting our pharmaceutical products. We can request foreign pharmaceutical companies to use our plants to manufacture their drugs here,” he added.
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