ISLAMABAD, July 10: Deregulating pharma industry by keeping minimum number of molecules under the government control will definitely bring the prices of medicines down due to fair market competition, claimed Zafar Mooraj, the executive director of Pharma Bureau.

He told reporters here at a local hotel that the deregulation of medicines would also allow the import of drugs that would automatically check price increase through cut throat competition. He, however, conceded about putting in place certain control mechanism to check the prices, saying “the multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNCs) welcome policies that encourage competition and provide a level playing field for all.”

There are over 400 registered pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan of which about 26 are multinationals while their estimated sales is $1 billion which is 1.75 per cent of the Pakistan’s GDP. The MNC, Mr Mooraj claimed, contributed Rs2 billion per annum to the national exchequer in sales tax alone.

About delegating the authority of drug pricing from the ministry of health to the industries ministry through the new pharmaceutical law (deregulation), he said that the ministry of health had no experts to regulate and manage the commercial interest of the drug manufacturers, as they did not employ economist or chartered accountants.

To a question about deregulating the medicine on generic instead of brands, he said the experiment had flopped in Pakistan and in other countries also as it could not ensure quality.

“In Pakistan, excessive price control has also led to the shortage of numerous essential drugs in the market, a decline in employment due to cost cutting, downsizing and a declining growth rate for the industry as a whole.” In order to ensure the long-term survival of this important industry for the country, it was imperative that drug prices and the market should be regulated at least to the level of other countries in the region, he stressed.