KARACHI, Jan 14 Multinational drug companies in Pakistan have been pushing up their rates, while there is shortage of many medicines in Karachi and some upcountry markets.

A random market survey on Wednesday revealed that the price of 100 capsule pack of Evion (Merck) now costs Rs440 as compared to Rs250. The 100 tablets pack of Buscopan Plus is now priced at Rs200 as compared to Rs140 earlier.

GSK's Augmentin tablets pack of 375 grams is now available at Rs74 as compared to Rs63 Septran syrup price has been enhanced to Rs21 from Rs 12.86.

Sanofi Aventis's phenergen syrup is now priced at Rs27 as compared to Rs 15. Searle's packet of 100 Nuberol tablets is now selling at Rs375 as against Rs354, while the packet of 10 tablets of Simbex (20 mg) is now available at Rs180 as compared to Rs160.

Abbot's Brufen syrup now sells at Rs24 as compared to Rs23. The same company's Surbex-T packet is now priced at Rs45 as compared to Rs40.

The price of Novartis' Tegaral (packet of 10 tablets) has been jacked up to Rs33 from Rs27, while CaC 1,000 big tablets are now available at Rs55 as compared to Rs48.62.

Parke-Davis's Citralka and Benadryl syrup now sell at Rs28 and Rs20 as compared to Rs15 and Rs14, respectively. Lysovit syrup now sells at Rs65 as compared to Rs40.

Wyeth's Lederplex and Mucaine syrups now carry price tags of Rs34 each as compared to Rs28. The 50 tablets packet of Motalium (J&J) now sells at Rs215 as compared to Rs187.54.

A retailer said that the markets have been witnessing the increase in drug prices since October 2008. For the last one month, the MNCs have become very active and after every three to four day a company announces price rise.

He said that many life-saving drugs and other medicines have been short in the market like Ventolin inhaler, Polyfex eye ointment, Amoxil syrup, Augmentin syrup, Panadol tablets, Solucortef injection, Decadron injection, Kenacort injection, Kenacomb ear drops, Imodium capsule and Lomotil.

The retailer said that the shortage of medicines means that the rates are set to increase as companies plan to push up prices after supplies are suspended.

He said that many companies are increasing the prices of the entire range of a particular medicine.

Executive Director of Pharma Bureau (PB) Riaz Hussain also confirmed to Dawn that the prices of drugs are going up but “there has been no alarming increase, which could create panic in the market.” PB is a group of 24 MNCs manufacturing drugs.

He linked the increase in drug prices to some “hardship cases” of many MNCs, which have sent their cases to the health ministry for a price hike in the wake of rising raw material cost coupled with increase in cost of imported items due to devaluation of the rupee against the dollar.

He said these were some old hardship cases on which the government is now giving the permission on a very selective basis. A case takes at least one or two years to get the approval.

There are thousands of cases of hardships waiting for the approval but truly speaking, only few hundreds are getting the green signal, he added.

He said that the price of raw material used in the making of Vitamin B Complex and Vitamin C related medicines have jumped by 200-250 per cent in last few months.

When asked as to how many members have increased the prices so far, he said he had requested his member companies to provide data about the price hike and also its impact on their overall sales.

He was of the view that there might be only one per cent increase in the turnover of a company keeping in view the price rise. Giving its justification, he said that for example if a company produces 100 different medicines then the price increase is being made on only two to three items rather than the entire drugs. There are many companies, which produce 200 different kinds of medicines, are increasing rates on only three to four items.

If the companies do not increase the prices the products will disappear from the markets and their business operations in Pakistan will not be profitable. Finally, imported and smuggled products will flood the local markets, he said.

Mr Riaz ruled out any shortage of medicines from the MNCs' side. “Drug production of the companies has been going normal,” he said adding there may be some speculators, who have been involved in creating artificial shortage. However, he said he could not give the exact situation about shortage of medicines in the up-country.

The government had imposed a ban on raising drug prices since 2001 but it is not clear whether there is any relaxation in the ban to increase the price through these kinds of hardship cases.