'Prices of key pharma ingredients could rise if coronavirus outbreak in China prolongs'

The prices of the key pharmaceutical ingredients could rise if the coronavirus situation in China does not improve soon, a top company official said on Tuesday. China accounted for 67.56 percent of total imports of bulk drugs and drug intermediates at USD 2,405.42 million to India in 2018-19.

"The prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) could increase if the situation in China does not improve soon," Zydus Group Chairman Pankaj Patel said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday met the representatives of various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemicals, electronics and IT hardware, solar, auto, surgical pieces of equipment, and paints, to review the situation following the outbreak of the deadly virus in China.

She said the government will soon announce measures to deal with the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the domestic industry. Describing pharma, chemical and solar equipment sectors as worst affected, the finance minister said disruptions are visible in these due to delay in shipment.

"There are no concerns about price rise so far due to coronavirus," she added. She also said there were no reports of a shortage of medicines or medical equipment, instead, the pharmaceutical industry is asking for the lifting of a ban on exports of certain items.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has already constituted a high-level panel to assess the impact of the outbreak of the deadly virus in China on the supply of APIs in India. According to official sources, Indian drugmakers have informed the high-level committee that they presently have stocks for the next two to three months.

There has been no supply from the neighboring country for the last 20-25 days, mainly due to the Chinese New Year holidays, sources said. The prices of medicines are monitored by the government, and apart from the essential medicines whose prices are fixed by the government, the companies are allowed to hike prices of the remaining drugs by only up to 10 percent in a year.

India has a high dependence on fermentation-based APIs/ intermediates namely antibiotics and vitamins. Companies have been maintaining 2-3 months inventory of these APIs and intermediates, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) Secretary-General Sudarshan Jain had earlier said. India imports bulk drugs/APIs for producing medicines, including certain essential medicines, from China.