Bangladesh: Pharmaceuticals

WTO/TRIPS agreement comes as a blessing in disguise, New Year brings fresh hopes for pharma sector

Bangladesh has already entered a regime of huge export potentials in pharmaceutical sector, albeit silently, from day one of 2006 as a WTO/TRIPS agreement, beneficial to the country, came into effect from Saturday.

"The country has now entered into a favorable business environment under the auspices of the relevant World Trade Organization (WTO)/Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on drug," a senior Executive of Beximco Pharmaceuticals told Sunday.

The WTO council responsible for intellectual property on 27 June 2002 approved a decision extending until 2016 the transition period during which least-developed countries (LDCs) do not have to provide patent protection for pharmaceutical products.

It also approved a waiver for LDCs on exclusive marketing rights for any new drug during the period."As per the agreement, the LDCs including Bangladesh would be able to manufacture and export patented drugs until 2016," President of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industry (BAPI) SM Shafiuzzaman said.

Other non-LDC countries, including India, China and Pakistan, will not be able to manufacture and export patented drugs, as the facility will be reserved for LDCs until 2016, he explained.

Among the 49 LDCs, Bangladesh fortunately is the only country, which has a strong pharmaceuticals manufacturing base.

"If Bangladesh can avail itself of the opportunity, it could export up to Tk 100 billion worth of drugs annually," the BAPI leader claimed.

The BAPI sources said to grab the opportunity, the government needs to ensure that the country's existing Patent Act of 1933 complies with the WTO/TRIPS agreement.

In the Patent Act, there is a provision of not allowing the local companies to manufacture patented drugs, which presently contradicts the WTO/TRIPS provision.

The government also has to take advantage of compulsory licensing and parallel import to tap the huge potentials of pharmaceutical sector, the BAPI leaders pointed out.

Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry now exports drugs to 62 countries, including Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, the UK, the Netherlands, Chile, France, Pakistan, Kenya and Sudan.

The country has over 200 companies comprising small, medium, large and multinational companies, which control around 95% of the country's pharmaceutical market.

The pharmaceutical industry recorded nearly 15% - 20% annual growth in recent times. To avail the opportunities under TRIPS/WTO provision, a good number of new pharmaceutical companies initiated operations in the country.

Many pharmaceutical industries including Square, Beximco, Novartis invested huge amounts to enhance their production capacity. Investments in the country's pharmaceutical sector were over US$ 1.0 billion in last several years, the BAPI sources said.

Foreign pharmaceutical companies including those of India have already successfully penetrated the Bangladesh market and many more are in the pipeline to reap the benefit of the WTO agreement, said sources. Bangladesh, however, initiated pharmaceutical export in late the 1980s.

Despite the fact that there was no support or incentive from the government, a few companies with their own initiatives started exporting finished formulations to some of the less-regulated overseas markets like Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

After being successful in these less-regulated markets, in early-90s a number of major Bangladeshi companies also took initiative to explore some of the more-regulated markets like Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Singapore.

Success in registering and marketing these products in these countries was a major breakthrough for Bangladesh pharmaceuticals industries.

This was a clear testimony not only to the product quality, but also to the capabilities to meet stringent regulatory requirements. Currently, Bangladesh is exporting a wide range of pharmaceutical products covering all major therapeutic classes and dosage forms.

Alongside regular brands, it is also exporting high-tech specialized products like inhalers, suppositories, nasal sprays, indictable and infusions.

Apart from overseas retail customers, the country is also supplying to world-renowned hospitals and institutions like Raffles Hospital of Singapore, Jinnah Hospital of Pakistan, MEDs of Kenya, SPC of Sri Lanka and KK Women & Children Hospital of Singapore, the BAPI sources said.