THIS refers to the letter ‘Pharma exports’ (July 17). I can vouchsafe that Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry has the potential to increase exports to the level of Bangladesh and even more.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan should facilitate this by decreasing the amount of fees being charged. Besides, the third party contract manufacturing should be allowed to pharmaceutical companies, as elsewhere, even here in Germany.

WHO and Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S) do not certify regulatory authorities like DRAP. This is a wrong notion. WHO can support DRAP in many ways. On the other hand , PIC/S certifies a particular pharmaceutical company after a thorough inspection if it complies with all aspects of international GMP Standards and if its manufactured products are of high quality and safe. Such a PIC/S certificate would help pharmaceutical companies in export and in participation at international pharmaceutical tenders.

DRAP can become a member of PIC/S but this does not exempt individual pharmaceutical companies from going through PIC/S inspections before they obtain such a certificate.

The manufacture of life-saving drugs is another matter, and the price issue should also be addressed by DRAP. It is strongly recommended that the government pay attention to the pharmaceutical manufacturers’ grievances and help them increase pharma exports.

Dr Syed Laik Ali

Germany

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017