KARACHI: Drug manufacturers are willing to reduce the prices of some medicines that are ‘irrationally high’, provided government allows them to increase the prices of those medicines whose cost of production has become unbearable for the manufacturers due to increasing inflation, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) said on Saturday.

“Yesterday we met with Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel and expressed our willingness to reduce prices of some of the medicines, whose prices are irrationally high. We know that buying power of people is diminishing but we also want the government to allow an increase in prices of some of the medicines, whose cost of production has become unbearable for us due to inflation both at local and international levels”, PPMA Vice President Atif Iqbal told The News

PPMA Vice President claimed that Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) allowed some the pharmaceutical companies to sell medicines at exorbitantly high prices while others were asked to sell the same ‘molecules’ at unjustified prices, adding that now drug manufacturers were willing to sit with the government and the DRAP and rationalize and reduce these prices.

He claimed that the federal health minister agreed to resolve some of the basic issues, especially the price disparity of several medicines. “Some of the drug manufacturers given very low prices, are now unable to produce medicines due to increase in the cost of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), which is the raw material of medicines, increasing cost of fuel, utilities and other expenses. While some of the companies were allowed sell medicines at prices, which are still very high despite inflation”, Atif Iqbal added.

Atif Iqbal claimed that the health minister had asked them to meet him again next week in Islamabad along with their recommendations, assuring that all their justified demands would be accepted but added that the minister wanted the provision of quality medicines at affordable prices to people. “We told him that prices of some of the medicines could be reduced while prices of some of them, which are called hardship cases, would have to be increased as their cost of production has increased enormously”, he added.

He claimed that drug manufacturers have also assured the government that they were willing to provide free medicines for the public and charity-run health facilities, provided they are only given to needy and deserving patients. He said drug manufacturers were also willing to provide costly medicines, especially those for the treatment of cancers and other diseases to ‘some needy and deserving patients’ at affordable prices.