6 foreign pharmas obtain registration in FY 2012-13
KATHMANDU, JAN 22 -
The number of foreign pharmas getting registered in Nepal to sell their products declined in the last fiscal year 2012-13 compared to the previous year. According to the Department of Drug Administration (DDA), six companies were registered in 2012-13, down from 10 in 2011-12.
Among the entrants, there were four Indian companies and one each from Canada and the UK. All of them offer vaccines, life-saving medicines like drugs for cancer and HIV/AIDS and a large volume of parenteral drugs.
“This is probably due to the government policy of not allowing foreign companies to sell general medicines,” said Gajendra Bahadur Bhuju, officiating chief drug administrator at the DDA. “There is also stiff competition in the market among those who have entered the life-saving drugs segment.”
According to him, the government has stopped providing licences to new foreign companies to sell general medicines here since the last five years. “However, the foreign companies already registered can introduce their products in this segment,” said Bhuju. New companies can sell only six categories of medicines including vaccines, medicines for HIV/AIDS, contraceptives, drugs for cancer and intravenous fluids.
According to the DDA, foreign pharmaceutical companies have to pay US$ 1,500 as status assessment fee. They are also required to pay Rs 50,000 as registration fee and Rs 2,400 for registering each product.
Counting the latest entrants, there are now 273 foreign companies selling allopathic products in the country. Another 27 companies deal in veterinary products and 32 selling herbal products.
Meanwhile, foreign pharma companies registered 455 new brands of medicines last year, bringing the total number of foreign medicinal products available in the domestic market to 8,238. The number of domestic brands has reached 5,826.
Similarly, there are 47 domestic companies manufacturing allopathic drugs. They produce general medicines and do not make life-saving drugs. Local companies account for 45 percent of the Rs 17 billion pharmaceutical market in Nepal.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post)
