Pakistan Pharma Among World's Top 3 Fastest Growing

Pakistan pharmaceutical industry and market are among the world's top 3 fastest growing, according to IQVIA health market research firm based in the United States. Pakistan’s domestic pharmaceutical firms sales have grown 13.1% compounded annually in the last 4 years, outperforming multinational companies (MNCs), which saw global growth of 9.34% CAGR. Pakistan's pharma sector is growing faster than in other emerging markets like Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Russia and Vietnam.

Emerging faster than the MNCs, the quarterly revenues of the local Pakistani pharmaceutical companies surged to Rs. 320 billion in the quarter ending March 31, 2020, compared with Rs. 195.75 billion as of March 31, 2016. Similarly, MNCs increased their quarterly sales in Pakistan to Rs. 143.2 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2020, up from Rs. 100.2 billion in Q12016, according to Pakistani media reports. Pakistan exported $217.04 million worth of pharma products during 2019, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

Pakistan Pharma Growth Among Top Fastest in the World. Source: IQVIA

Medicine spending growth in the emerging pharmaceutical  ("pharmerging") markets continues to slow compared to the past five years and is projected to grow at 5–8% through 2023, according to US-based global market research firm IQVIA.

Pakistan Pharma Exports

Although China, Brazil and India have the largest medicine spending within the pharmerging markets, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan are forecast to have the greatest growth between 2019 and 2023. Pharmerging market growth continues to derive primarily from increasing per capita use, but some markets are seeing wider uptake of newer medicines as patients’ ability to afford their share of costs improves with economic growth.

Pakistan's top 5 pharma companies, including GSK, Abbott, and AGP Pharma,  saw their profits jump 37% in Q1/2020 over the same period last year, to Rs2.6 billion. In the same quarter, profits of 13 consumer giants, including Nestle, Packages, Pakistan Tobacco and Colgate, remained flat amid COVID19 pandemic.

In growing recognition of Pakistan's pharmaceutical sector, the  US-based Gilead Sciences recently chose to license COVID19 drug Remdesivir to Pakistan's Ferozsons pharmaceutical company. Other Remdisivir licensees include pharma companies in India. Gilead said it signed non-exclusive licensing pacts with 5 generic drugmakers based in India and Pakistan, allowing them make and sell Remdesivir for 127 countries.

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Comment by Riaz Haq on July 5, 2020 at 11:18am

Pharmaceuticals in Pakistan presently form a USD 3.2 billion industry, growing at a swift 15%
annually. The sector has seen massive changes over the past decade, providing essential health
care products to citizens and introducing them to revolutionary pharmaceutical preparations.
Today, there are more than 700 pharmaceutical manufacturing units in Pakistan exporting
products worth over $200 million to more than 60 countries.

http://www.ppma.org.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Final-Report-Phar...

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 6, 2020 at 11:14am

#Pakistan Rolls Out First Locally Produced #Ventilators to Fight #COVID19 . #ImranKhan has inaugurated the production unit in Haripur #KPK with the capacity to manufacture 300 ventilators a month and handed over first batch to NDMA. #coronavirus https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/pakistan-rolls-out-first...

Pakistan has rolled out its first ever locally produced ventilators for deployment at hospitals treating coronavirus patients as the national tally of COVID-19 infections rises to nearly 232,000.

The pandemic has killed about 4,800 people since late February when it reached the South Asian nation of about 220 million; however, officials have reported a consistent decline in new infections and deaths from the infection over the past week.

Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday inaugurated the production unit and handed over the first batch of ‘SafeVent SP100’ portable ventilators to the national disaster management agency.

The facility in the northern town of Haripur has a production capacity of up to 300 ventilators a month.

An official statement quoted Khan as describing production as “a landmark achievement” for Pakistan, which has long been criticized for importing crucial medical supplies, including ventilators, despite having developed sophisticated nuclear weapons.

Pakistan’s public health care system has for decades suffered from neglect, lack of funding and corruption, which encouraged expensive hospitals in the private sector to flourish in a country where about 25 percent of the population live below the national poverty line.

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry recently told parliament there were only 1,400 functioning ventilators in government hospitals across the country when the pandemic hit it, immediately leading to an acute shortage of the life-saving equipment for critical coronavirus patients.

Pakistan’s close ally China, however, swiftly stepped in and sent urgent relief supplies, including hundreds of ventilators, millions of masks and testing kits, worth more than $55 million, enabling Islamabad to deal with the unfolding health-related crisis.

The United States also has pledged millions of dollars in new aid for Pakistan to help combat the ailment. President Donald Trump’s administration has already donated 100 ventilators to Islamabad out of a promised 200 machines.

Chaudhry, while hailing the U.S. “gesture of friendship,” said in a statement that Pakistan, in a short span of four months, has now begun its own large-scale production of sanitizers and personal protection equipment, noting the medical supplies are already being exported to the United States.

"In the next three years, Pakistan will have its own big medical and electromagnetic industry and I have no doubts that USA will be our major client,” the minister pledged.

Chaudhry also said three new manufacturing facilities in the public and private sector are being installed for commercial production of ventilators. He noted that Pakistan annually imports medical supplies worth more than $2 billion and pays an additional $1 billon in service agreements to run the equipment.

The minister said domestic production of medical equipment will save Pakistan much-needed foreign exchange and the country will be self-sufficient in next five years so it will not have to import any medical supplies.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 11, 2020 at 5:23pm

#CoronaVirus Protection Gear Sales Reversing #Pakistan #Exports Fall. Exports of #PPE, #masks and other protective gear -- a new market -- have increased, says Abdul Razak Dawood. New export orders for #garments coming in. #COVID19
https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/virus-protection-ge... via @BloombergQuint

Pakistan has “really moved fast into that area,” Dawood said, referring to PPE. The current year should be a better one than last, he said. South Asia’s second-largest economy, whose exports dropped 7% in the year ended June, isn’t alone in stepping up production of PPEs. Neighbor India has become the world’s second-biggest maker of PPE kits after a shortage at the beginning of the outbreak pushed it to boost local manufacturing. Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic has meant Pakistan secured its first sportswear order from Hugo Boss AG, according to Ijaz Akhtar Khokhar, chief coordinator at Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Pakistan plans to give tax incentives to any global brand that opens an office in the country, said trade adviser Dawood. The South Asian nation is looking to spur growth in the economy after its first contraction in 68 years in the year ended June. While exports dropped in seven out of the past 12 months, the rupee’s depreciation -- by more than 50% since late 2017 -- has made the nation’s shipments competitive globally, said Dawood. Dawlance, a local home appliances maker, exported microwaves to Bangladesh for the first time, while D.G. Khan Cement Ltd. has sent clinker to new markets such as China and Philippines. The cement maker has another order from the Philippines for supply of 20,000 tons as well as making more shipments to China, according to CFO Inayatullah Niazi.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 18, 2020 at 7:43pm

Despite COVID-19 outburst, agri sector expands by 2.67pc

https://nation.com.pk/01-Jul-2020/despite-covid-19-outburst-agri-se...


Positive growth of 2.90 per cent in important crops was observed due to an increase in production of wheat, rice, and maize at 2.45 per cent, 2.89 per cent, and 6.01 per cent, respectively. Similarly, the increase has been witnessed in Fertilizer (5.81 per cent), Leather products (4.96 per cent), Rubber products (4.31 per cent), Paper & Board (4.23 per cent) and Non-metallic mineral products (1.82 per cent). Besides these sectors, the pharmaceuticals also remained functional during the pandemic and in fact registered growth.

The PES 2019-20 disclosed that the pace of contraction diminished in the pharmaceutical sector as it registered 5.38 per cent decline during July to March in FY-2020 as compared to 8.66 per cent decline in the corresponding period. Also, the pharmaceutical sector recorded the highest sales in March while it fetched $1.3 million Foreign Direct Investment in April 2020. Once the textile industry was leading exports of the country but now the pharmaceutical sector has been identified as the sector that could enhance the country’s exports to boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry is an essential, high technology and a strategically important industry and at the present growth rate the market size for pharmaceuticals will double in the next 10 years in Pakistan.

----------------

But the impact of the pandemic will be severe in the coming months as the IMF has revised down its world GDP projections and now expects a contraction of 4.9 per cent in 2020. “Apart from the last three months, the next twelve months will also be very tough for the Pakistan economy,” said Taha Khan Javed, Head of Equities at Al Meezan Investment. The outlook for Pakistan GDP is also precarious with growth for next fiscal year expected to be only 1-2 per cent, much below the normal growth 3-5 per cent we have seen in the past, he added. He said that because of slowdown in economic activity especially in the informal sector it is expected that millions of people will be unemployed, while exports will also remain under pressure.

Yet, he added, few industries including the pharmaceuticals of the country can play a vital role in their capacity to help the national economy. While suggesting a way forward in this regard, Taha said that the pharmaceutical industry should ramp up their production capacity.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 3, 2020 at 6:58pm

#Pakistan develops first bloodless, affordable dialysis machine for kidney disease treatment. Developers are MIT & Harvard graduates Farrukh Usman, Michael, Wollowitz, Eric Flachbart and Dr. Frank Rudolph. #medicaldevices https://gn24.ae/a6c6ec73c73c000

By the time people are diagnosed with advanced-stage kidney disease and recommended dialysis treatments, they have been through a lot of pain and agony. To make the treatment process bloodless, hassle-free and affordable, Pakistan’s first dialysis machine has been developed by biotechnology startup in Lahore led by experts of a US-based company called Byonyks Medical Devices with support from Pakistan’s Ignite, which funds innovative startups, and Angel investors.

“Robo-Kidney is an affordable and bloodless machine that will allow kidney patients to receive dialysis treatment from the comfort of their homes”, says founder and CEO of Byonyks, Farrukh Usman - a Pakistani-American innovator. The machine also protects them from diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis C infections – a risk posed by traditional dialysis practices. Designed in consultation with Pakistan’s leading nephrologists and medical expert, the machine has been developed to improve the quality of life of people suffering from kidney failure.


The company, founded by MIT and Harvard graduates and medical device experts, Farrukh Usman, Michael, Wollowitz, Eric Flachbart and Dr. Frank Rudolph, aims to offer low-cost, affordable and widely accessible state-of-the-art medical devices for the developing world to revolutionize healthcare therapy for millions across the world. They have also received a patent for their technology.

20 million sufferers
More than 20 million Pakistanis have kidney diseases. Two treatments for those with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are kidney transplants and dialysis. In Pakistan, only hemodialysis machines are available which removes a patient’s blood, run it through a dialysis machine to remove toxins and excess fluid and return cleaned blood to the body. Hemodialysis is performed at a dialysis center several times a month, each session lasting a few hours, making it a tiresome, arduous and expensive process. Another option now gaining popularity is at-home dialysis performed while the patients are asleep at night. Known as automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), this bloodless method of dialysis with the use of a special machine removes toxins and excess fluid from the body by instilling fluid in the belly and subsequently draining it.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 4, 2020 at 4:39pm

#Pakistan plans industrial hemp production for $25 billion global #cannabis market. It grows wild in the country. It does not contain significant quantities of high-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It can be used to produced CBD for medical purposes. https://bit.ly/3h0oDrX

Pakistan has unveiled plans to allow the industrial production of hemp, spurring hopes farmers and businesses in the conservative Islamic country will be able to tap into the lucrative global cannabis market.

The move comes as Prime Minister Imran Khan's government struggles to boost the country's foreign exchange coffers that have been drained by a struggling economy, fiscal deficits and inflation.

"This hemp market could provide Pakistan with some $1 billion in the next three years and we are in a process of making a full-fledged plan for this purpose," science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry told reporters Wednesday.

Hemp is a type of cannabis plant containing cannabidiol (CBD) which advocates say has numerous medicinal and relaxing properties.

It does not contain significant quantities of high-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Chaudhry said the industrial hemp market was worth some $25 billion globally and several countries were relaxing laws targeting cannabis-based products such as CBD oils.

Initially, the government will control hemp production, Chaudry said, but private businesses and farmers will be allowed to enter the market at a later date.

He added that with cotton production in Pakistan declining due to various factors, hemp provided farmers with a viable alternative.

In conservative Pakistan, where the consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden for Muslims, many people are surprisingly open to using cannabis, with the spongy, black hash made from marijuana grown in the country's tribal belt and neighboring Afghanistan the preferred variant of the drug.

Across the subcontinent people have been cultivating cannabis and smoking hash for centuries.

The plant predates the arrival of Islam in the region, with reference to cannabis appearing in the sacred Hindu Atharva Veda text describing its medicinal and ritual uses.

Hemp grows almost as a weed in parts of Pakistan -- including in great abundance in the capital, where huge bushes can be seen sprouting at traffic roundabouts.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 11, 2020 at 7:00pm

Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry has emerged among the fastest-growing industry in the world, as per a report issued by IQVIA – an American global information and technology solution company. The Pakistani pharmaceutical companies have shown a cumulative average growth rate or CAGR of 13.1 percent in the last four years, as compared to a CAGR of 9.34 percent of Multinational Companies (MNCs), the report added.

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/24/pakistani-pharmaceut...

Overall pharmaceutical sales for the outgoing fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 clocked in at Rs453.5 billion, posting a growth of 9 percent. On a quarterly basis, the overall sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 grew 4 percent to clock in at Rs111.12 billion. In overall sales during the aforementioned period, the share of national drug-makers was 68 percent, up 10 percent, while that of foreign ones stood at 32 percent, a growth of 8 percent.

As per IQVIA report, medicine spending growth in the pharmerging markets continues to slow compared to the past five years and is projected to grow at 5 to 8 percent through 2023. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan are also forecast to have the greatest growth between 2019 and 2023.

The report forecasted that the global pharmaceutical market will exceed $1.5 trillion by 2023 growing at a 3 to 6 percent compound annual growth rates over the next five years – a notable slowdown from the 6.3 percent seen over the past five years.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20, the pace of contraction diminished in the pharmaceutical sector. It registered 5.38 percent decline during July to March in FY-2020 as compared to 8.66 percent decline in the corresponding period. Similarly, the sector recorded the highest sales in March while it fetched $1.3 million Foreign Direct Investment in April 2020. However, the provisional GDP growth rate for Financial Year 2020 is estimated at a negative growth of 0.38 percent. The Mckinsey & Company in a report commissioned by the Planning Commission of Pakistan and Asian Development Bank identified the pharmaceutical industry as a sunrise industry.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 19, 2021 at 7:32am

Citi #Pharma that has the largest #manufacturing plant in #Pakistan's pharma industry - the size of 24 football fields in Kasur - and soon with the ability to make more than 10 million capsules and tablets a day is going for #IPO on #Karachi Stock Exchange https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-19/glaxo-s-supplier...

Citi Pharma Ltd., a raw material supplier to the Pakistani units of GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Abbott Laboratories, plans to raise as much as 2.85 billion rupees ($18 million), in potentially the biggest initial share sale by a drugmaker in the nation.

The Lahore-based company plans to sell shares within the next six weeks, according to Chief Executive Officer Rizwan Ahmad. The initial public offering may exceed the 2.8 billion rupees raised by AGP Ltd. in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Citi Pharma, which makes active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, is joining a global rush to raise capital as equity markets surge. The nation’s benchmark KSE-100 Index has gained about 70% since March 25 when countries across the world began lockdowns, helping revive the nation’s IPO market, which is poised for a record year.

The company will use about two-third of the IPO funds to build a 50-bed hospital in Lahore. The balance will be used to help construct two new plants, which will start operations by the end of this year, said Finance Director Amir Zia.

Read more about the IPO boom across Asia

The expansion will allow the company to start manufacturing branded drugs. It will also make medicines for other companies. It is already in talks with Glaxo, Searle Co., and Martin Dow, said Ahmad.

The company’s production facility near Lahore that spans 47 acres – about 24 soccer fields -- was acquired from the Army Welfare Trust in 2012. The latest expansion will give it capacity to produce over 10 million tablets and capsules a day.

The company’s revenue has increased 36% annually on average, while gross margins have remained at about 13% in the past five years. That measure will rise as the company begins selling branded generics, Zia said. The company forecasts revenue will increase more than three times to 12 billion rupees by the year ending June 2023.

The company plans to offer 35% of its equity by selling 72.7 million shares at 28 rupees a share with an upper limit of 40%, according to its financial adviser Topline Securities Pakistan Ltd.

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 14, 2021 at 7:12pm

7 Countries to Benefit From a COVID-19 Technology Access Pool - BORGEN

Chile, Dominic Republic, Indonesia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Sudan and Tunisia.

https://www.borgenmagazine.com/covid-19-technology-access-pool/

Several pharmaceutical companies have joined the Solidarity Call to Action, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) initiative to share research among public and private entities via a COVID-19 technology access pool. This essential movement aims to eliminate economic obstacles to accessing a vaccine. Thus far, 40 WHO Member States have joined the Solidarity Call to Action, with more on the way. The increasing membership suggests a possible global commitment to open research and tech sharing to nations that are lacking technologically. Here is a closer look at seven countries that would benefit from a global commitment to a COVID-19 technology access pool.


COVID-19 ravaged densely populated cities in Pakistan. Economists project its poverty rate, which had decreased extraordinarily throughout much of the last decade, will soar in the pandemic’s wake. The UN recommended that “making essential health services available to those in need and protecting health systems” should be prioritized. Certainly, the global community’s prioritization of a COVID-19 technology access pool aligns with the UN’s goals and suggestions for Pakistan.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 2, 2021 at 1:21pm

#Pakistani, #Chinese firms to make #coronavirus jab in #Pakistan . Searle Pakistan will be the first company to manufacture a #COVID19 #vaccine in Pakistan, said the jab has shown promising results in Phase 1 and 2 trials. #pandemic #pharmaceutical

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistani-chinese-firms-to-ma...

A Pakistani pharmaceutical company has signed a deal with a Chinese firm to produce a COVID-19 vaccine in the country, according to an official announcement on Thursday.

In a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, Searle Company Limited said it had finalized an agreement with China’s Livzon Mapharm Inc. to manufacture a novel coronavirus vaccine – V-01 – in Pakistan.

“The Searle Company Limited has successfully concluded an exclusive licensing and supply agreement with Livzon Mapharm Inc. for the Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (V-01),” read the letter.

“The licensing agreement also covers the manufacturing transition of (V-01) in Pakistan.”

Searle, which will be the first company to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan, said the jab has shown promising results in Phase 1 and 2 trials.

“The Phase Ill clinical study will include multiple countries and enroll more than 20,000 subjects, with the aim to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of V-01 program,” the letter said.

According to the company, the vaccine has “many potential advantages such as strong safety profile … long durability, and easy to scale up for manufacturing.”

Searle said it was hopeful that “the relevant authorities will take up the matter on urgent basis and support fast-track approval to carry out Phase 3 clinical trials in Pakistan.”

Pakistan has so far approved four COVID-19 vaccines for use in the country – China’s Sinopharm and CanSino, along with Russia’s Sputnik V and the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.


Infections hitting new highs

Pakistan on Friday reported 5,234 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily spike since June 20 last year, raising its overall tally to 678,165.

Another 83 patients died in the last 24 hours, pushing the fatality count to 14,613, according to the Health Ministry.

As many as 607,205 patients have recovered so far, leaving the number of active cases at 56,347, latest data showed.

Infections have surged in the South Asian country of over 200 million in recent days, with more than 75,000 reported in March alone.

Asad Umar, the country’s planning minister who is leading its pandemic response, said the entire region has been experiencing a “severe” COVID-19 spike.

“It is vital that we all contribute to containing the spread by taking sensible precautions. Wear a mask, avoid crowded places, wash hands or sanitize often, reduce travel to only essential work,” he said on Twitter.

As part of efforts to stem surging infections, the government has reimposed a blanket ban on all kinds of public gatherings across the country and is enforcing expanded lockdowns in the worst-hit areas.

Educational institutes have also been closed until at least April 11 in districts with high infection rates.

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