Reasons Why India is the "Pharmacy" of the Developing World

Reasons Why India is the "Pharmacy" of the Developing World medbuzz.in/blogs/reasons-why-india-is-the-pharmacy-of-the-developing-world

Posted by : Admin / On : February 16, 2021

India, a developing country, faces several challenges, especially providing its citizens with affordable medicines of high quality. It is not only the case with India but with every developing nation around the world. India's tag in medicine reminds the world of two things, high quality, and low price. The combination and ensuring health security in several developing countries makes Indian medicines favorite among the developing countries.

India is one of the largest pharmaceuticals producers worldwide and has the largest United States Food and Drug Administration plants outside the US. The country's pharmaceutical industry is known for its competitiveness because of the ability to master the production of niche medicines quickly, strong R&D backup, competitive domestic firms, and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient. "Robinhood"- is the name given to India in the world of pharmaceuticals.

Some reasons why India is the "Pharmacy: of the Developing World 1. India's affordable medicines make millions of people worldwide to stay alive India, before 2005 did not grant product patents on medications, which allowed for the production of low-cost medicines with generic names protected with patents in other countries. Indian generic manufacturers were the first to market low-cost medicines with generic names of the life-saving HIV medicines (Zidovudine) and cancer (Imatinib) through reverse engineering skills within a few years of their US launch. There was a price

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reduction of more than 99 percent of medicines like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, Tuberculosis, Malaria, and medicines for non-communicable diseases because of robust competition among generic producers in India.

2. Access to affordable HIV medication from India is one of the most exceptional success stories in medicine is Africa was the worst-hit country because of AIDS in 1999. Big pharmaceutical companies were charging over $10,000 per month per patient every year for the antiretrovirals because of patent monopolies that made treatment economically unviable for millions of patients in the developing world.

Cipla, a generic medical company, announced that it would manufacture and supply the HIV antiretrovirals at $1 per day, a 99.99 percent price cut. At present, India is the primary source of affordable HIV medicines globally, as it is one of the few countries to produce newer HIV medicines with generic names much faster than any other country in the world.

3. One of the most influential suppliers of low-cost vaccines in the world is India An excellent example of India's low-cost medicines with generic names is the recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine. Large multinational pharmaceutical companies ensured that the medicine price was high and held a monopoly on the vaccine. A manufacturer in India saw a gap of need at $23 per dose and developed a Hepatitis B vaccines to reduce the medicine price to less than $1 per dose in the absence of patent barriers. India, today is the leading supplier of vaccines to the Ministers of Health in numerous countries and UNICEF. 4. India makes affordable generics possible and prevents 'evergreening.'

In 2005, while allowing patent protection for new pharmaceutical compounds, India adopted a strict medicines patent law, which made it tougher to get a patent on new forms of existing medicines.

The law was designed, keeping in mind the objective of stopping medicine giants from indulging in 'evergreening' an unfortunately common and abusive patenting practice in the pharmaceutical industry. It is also aimed at filing and then obtaining separate patents referred to as secondary patents relating to different medical aspects. These patents are routinely granted in the US and other countries, but India chose to give medication importance to the pharmaceutical industry's business interest. Thus, imatinib mesylate, the generic medicine in India, costs $790 per patient, which costs $106,322 in the US. 5. Low-cost Indian generics vs. sky-high prices of patented drugs in the US Since US laws and policies blindly favor pharmaceutical companies over medicines with generic names, the US prices are the highest in the world. Thus, this allows multiple and extended monopolies on the same medicine to increase costs for a more extended period.

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To reduce medicine prices in India, the policy and lawmakers have identified generic competition as the most effective and most robust way. In India, affordable medicines for people and governments in developing countries result from fewer pharmaceutical companies' patents.

Conclusion The healthcare system's main motive is pushing countries moving towards public health, ensuring that medicines are easily accessible and available for the largest number of people possible. Still, there are places where people need to pay for their medication out of their pocket, and major developing countries take the top list in spending the larger percentage on health. So if the medicines with generic names get shut down, it is a matter think what would be the situation with just branded versions.

Medecins sans Frontieres calls India 'the pharmacy of the developing world.' Because of the reasons mentioned above and mostly due to the fastest development of medicines with generic names, India was honored with 'the pharmacy of the developing country.'

Indian Government has launched various generic medical stores in India that aids even the poor sections of the country to avail and access life-saving medicines without compromising quality and standards.

At Medbuzz, we are an online generic medicine website and generic medicine app that provides cost effective and easy to home delivery services for people who want to buy generic medicines. If you choose to buy generic medicines online or otherwise, at Medbuzz, we can help you cut down your medical bills by over 70%. Do place your order on our online generic medicine website or our generic medicine app that is available for download on both iOS and Android.

Read More : Trends Which is Impacting Pharma Industry in 2020

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