APROPOS the editorial ‘Medicine policies’ (June 1). It is very encouraging if the federal and provincial governments will support the pharmaceutical industry with tax reductions and other related matters to manufacture raw materials, the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the country.

However, the pharmaceutical companies themselves should manufacture APIs for the production of dosis forms of medicines and not government agencies.

This requires acquisition and an ongoing upgrading of high grade and complex technical processes required for manufacturing pharmaceutical raw materials or APIs. The government policies should indeed encourage this to become commercially viable.

Private pharmaceutical companies should be able to not only do this for local consumption but also for export and make profits.

There is great competition in this sector from India and China and the export prices should be commercially feasible. Apart from this all the highly advanced technical equipment and the chemicals required for the synthesis of APIs in several steps should be available. This requires a functioning and viable chemical industry. Pharmaceutical companies should indeed start and try to synthesise some simple APIs to start with.

Several herbal medicines are already manufactured in the country, for example by the Hamdard Foundation.

Dr Syed Laik Ali
Bad Vilbel, Germany

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2020