ISLAMABAD: A petition moved in the Lahore High Court claims that just by implementing the Drug Act 1976, the government can bring down the prices of medicines manufactured in the country to one-fifth of their current prices.

That law, never implemented, requires the pharmaceutical industry to market their products under generic names instead of brand names.

But now, acting on the public interest petition, the Lahore High Court has sought reply from the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), within 15 days.

Advocate Hafiz Ahsan Aslam Naseer, who has filed the petition, told Dawn that section seven’s sub-section eight of the Drug Act 1976 clearly says that medicines should be sold by their generic name. But more than 70,000 medicines have been registered by authorities under their brand names and are sold by brand names.

Drap Chief Executive Officer Dr Muhammad Aslam, however, termed this “an issue of quality”.

“Manufacturers who use chemicals produced by non-pharmaceutical plants want to sell their medicines with generic names, while well known companies, which get raw material from pharmaceutical plants, want to sell under brand names as they ensure quality and people trust them,” he said.

“All companies, however, are bound to mention the generic name along with their brand name,” the CEO noted, adding that “it is difficult to sell medicines with generic names in developing countries.”

But petitioner Hafiz Ahsan Aslam Naseer called this the result of “a monopoly that the companies have created to keep prices high”.

“We have sought a stay over the issuance of new licences unless they are issued with generic names, and demanded that Drap ensure that all companies sell medicines under generic names,” he said.

President Drug Lawyers Forum Noor Mahar, who is a pharmacist, finds it “unfortunate” that the medicines are sold with brand names.

“In France, they are sold with generic names. In UK medicines are part of the social security system and are dispensed with generic names. Similarly, 80pc of medicines sold in the USA carry generic names. Influence and pressure of the powerful pharmaceutical industry prevents the implementation of the same law in Pakistan,” he said.

If drugs are registered with molecular formula, doctors will not be able to prescribe medicine by brand name. “Currently doctors earn cash, foreign visits, gifts and other incentives for doing that. Use of generic names will stop all such practices and the prices of medicines will come down drastically,” claimed the petitioner.

Sale of medicines with generic names will increase competition between the companies, will “automatically reduce” the prices anywhere between 80pc and 90pc and save lives of the poor who die because they cannot afford the current prices, said the petitioner.

A senior officer of Ministry of NHS considered it “a technical and complicated issue”.

“If the law is implemented companies will have to implement UK, USA or any other recognized Pharmacopoeia specifications due to which prices of raw material will increase. Currently companies get cheaper raw material, having inaccurate potency, such as if 70pc ingredients is required in the medicine there can be 60pc or 65pc,” he said.

“However we have issued notices to the companies to implement recognized Pharmacopoeias within 90 days, otherwise their licenses will be suspended. Once recognized Pharmacopoeias are implemented for medicine manufacturing, we will be able to implement the law,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2017