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The 14th edition of Asia Pharma Expo will create a large number of opportunities for the import and export of pharma products and boost the economy, hopeful industry leaders said at the opening ceremony of the expo.
The three-day-long expo kicked off on Thursday at the capital’s International Convention City Bashundhara. Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) is organising the event in association with GPE Private Ltd of India.
Speakers at the inaugural ceremony said that the expo would help Bangladeshi companies to source better and newer raw materials from trusted sources at affordable prices. Organisers said a total of 645 companies from 27 countries including the United States, Germany, France, Singapore, Netherlands, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and India are participating at the expo with their products including technology, parts and machines and raw materials.
Talking to reporters after the inaugural session, BAPI President Nazmul Hassan said that the pharmaceutical sector is currently facing multiple challenges. He said the pharmaceutical companies are paying high prices for raw materials due to a global supply chain crunch. In addition, power shortage in the country is making production costlier.
Speaking about the rising prices of drugs, he blamed the devaluation of taka against the US dollar and the Ukraine-Russia war among other reasons.
Senior Vice-President of BAPI Abdul Muktadir said considering the affordability of local customers, the drug prices in the country have been increased only slightly in comparison to the price hike of raw materials.
Post-LDC challenges
Nazmul Hassan said the situation after LDC graduation in 2026 would be unimaginable as medicine worth Tk 10 would cost Tk 500 due to the royalty fee.
He urged the government to give registration of patterned drugs before LDC graduation to escape the royalty fee.
Echoing a similar tone, Director General (DG) of the Directorate General of Drug Administration Major General Mohammad Yousuf said following LDC graduation pharmaceutical industries will face Intellectual Property Right crisis.
Bangladesh will no longer enjoy free patent facilities and so it will increase drug prices.
“If we can produce our raw materials and get a pattern before the LDC graduation the price might be brought under control,” he said.
He said to tackle the crisis, the government has already given all sorts of support including tax rebate in raw material import and 20 per cent incentive on export.
