PESHAWAR, Nov 21: Cheaper and effective Indian and Iranian drugs have flooded the local pharmacy markets because of the sky- rocketing prices of medicines manufactured by multi-national companies, sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

Local chemists said spiralling prices of drugs manufactured and marketed by MNCs were jeopardizing the lives of poor patients as they were unable to buy even a single dose of the drugs prescribed to them by the doctors, chemists commented.

Comparing prices of Indian and Iranian pharmaceutical products against similar products locally manufactured by MNCs, chemists said the price of 10 500mg capsules of Iran-made amoxicillin was Rs35, while the same drug was being sold by MNCs at Rs75.

Iranian aldomet tablets were available at Rs10 for as many tablets while the same preparation was being marketed by MNCs at Rs20. Likewise, 14 pills of Nilstat were priced at Rs30 while a similar drug manufactured in Pakistan was available at Rs20 for the same quantity. Owing to its large consumption, aldomet is frequently unavailable in the market.

Indian drugs, they said, were even cheaper than Iranian pharmaceuticals, adding that they were phenomenally cheaper when compared against multi-national products.

Ten tablets of Indian-made omeprazole cost Rs8, while a similar prescription drug was being marketed by one of the multi- national companies (GETZ) under the name of opeprazole and it is readily available at Rs175.

The price of 10 tablets of 400mg famotidine imported from India is only Rs5 for 10 tablets against a similar prescription being marketed by MNCs at Rs180.

Indian Zantac 40mg price is Rs15 and same Pakistani drug price is Rs 88. The price of Indian diclofenac sodium is mere Rs 5, whereas the same drug price producing by the multi-national companies is Rs 50.

Cifrofloxacin 500mg 10 tablets strip of India is available in the market at the rate of only Rs 25 in comparison with the Pakistani companies’ drug, which is being sold by the retailers at Rs 504.

The Indian norfloxacine price of 10 tablets is Rs 20 and price of the same Pakistani drug is Rs 200. Whereas, the multi- vitamin Indian globmin 10 tablets is available in the markets at Rs 10 and the price of Pakistani multi-vitamin drug with the same quantity of tablets is Rs 50.

The Indian getxofine price is just Rs 10 and the same drug price of a Pakistani company is Rs 40 and the Indian xaclas 0.5 is available in the market at Rs 15 and the same Pakistani drug price is Rs 60.

The price of one tablet of konegra 100mg made by Indian companies is Rs 50, whereas the same drug is not being produced by any multi-national companies here. According to the chemists, they prefer to deal in Indian and Iranian drugs, because they do need to invest more money.

“We buy them on deferred payment basis paying them when our stock gets exhausted, while MNCs demand money at the time of delivery of their products,” said a chemist.