Contemporary Issues In Business

Name of Group Members

Khurram Waheed

M.Salahuddin Sultan

Waqas Ahmed

Rabia Manzoor

Table of contents
Article Names
Articles + Short Summary About articles
Article Synopsis (Slides)

Article Names
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Big Pharmacy still betting on messed up Indian drugs market.

Drug sector sees adverse impact on local production.
Government urged to encourage investment in pharmacy sector
Indian drugs to ruin Pak pharmacy industry: PPMA chief.
No quick fix to Pak-Indian pharmacy trade
Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association denies raise in

drug prices.
7. Pharmacists are not allowed to let their degrees:

Articles + Short Summary About articles

Article no 1:
Big Pharma still betting on messed up Indian drugs
market
Published 2014-03-13 07:34:26

MUMBAI: Global drug makers have had a nauseous time in India's $14 billion market.
Prices have dropped and valuable patents have been overruled as the authorities strive to
make medicines affordable for the 70 per cent of people living on less than $2 a day.
From a regulatory perspective, the government has "messed up", as one top industry
consultant put it. But with 1.2bn people increasingly seeking both on- and off-prescription
drugs, the market is too big for firms to simply throw in the towel.
The two top foreign players, Abbott Laboratories and GlaxoSmithKline Plc., are actually
stepping up investment, and others such as AstraZeneca Plc. are considering doing so.
GSK has just spent $1bn on raising its stake in locally listed GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceuticals Ltd and plans to double Indian drug production by building a second factory
for about $140 million.
"There is a real excitement about India in GSK, in both consumer products and
pharmaceuticals," said Roger Connor, GSK's global head of manufacturing on a visit to
Mumbai.
India harbors an army of companies driving prices down with copies of off-patent drugs. It
also has a government imposing wide-ranging price reductions and a legal system with a
history of disallowing patent protection. Perturbed, global drug makers are soldiering on.
Abbott, local No. 1 since buying Piramal Healthcare for $3.7bn in 2010, has launched 40
drugs in India in the last two years and will open a new factory for nutritional products later
this year, said head of Indian operations Bhasker Iyer.

Other drug makers may raise stakes in local units made cheaper by a rupee that has fallen
12pc in value over the past year compared with the US dollar, said Aditya Khemka of
brokerage Ambit Capital. AstraZeneca has said it hopes to take full control of AstraZeneca
Pharma India Ltd, at a cost of more than $100m, to give it greater flexibility in India.
Khemka believes Sanofi SA, which has said emerging markets are important for growth,
could well be the next to raise its stake in Sanofi India Ltd. A Sanofi spokesman declined to
comment.
Even Novartis AG, whose cancer drug Glivec was refused a patent by the Supreme Court last
April, is launching new drugs.

Compulsory license
India stunned the pharmaceutical industry in 2012 by overriding a valid patent on cancer drug
Nexavar from Bayer AG and issuing a so-called compulsory license to Natco Pharma Ltd,
allowing the local firm to sell a copy for a fraction of the price.
The threat of more such licenses has since been hanging over the sector like a Sword of
Damocles, said Ranjit Shahani, head of Novartis' India unit.
Yet the long-term prospects of the Indian market have not deterred Shahani from launching
new patented drugs.
"Based on activities on the ground, multinational companies are actually taking larger bets on
India," said Sujay Shetty, pharmaceuticals leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers in India.

Price cutting
Market growth fell below 10pc last year, largely due to government-imposed price cuts on
many basic drugs, while even high-end biotech specialist Roche Holding AG agreed to
voluntary price cuts for some cancer drugs to improve market access.
Pricing pressure was a factor in researcher IMS Health projecting India will be the world's
11th biggest pharmaceutical market by 2017, from 13th in 2012, rather than eighth by 2016
as forecast less than two years ago.
Nevertheless, growth should return to double digits in 2014 and stay there for years to come,
said Hasit Joshipura, the head of GSK's local subsidiary.Reuters

Reference:

http://www.dawn.com/news/1092769/big-pharma-still-betting-on-messedup-indian-drugs-market

Summary of Article No 1:
Article Title:Big Pharmacy still betting on messed up Indian
drugs market.
Writer: Publish in The news
Publish Date: 13 March 2014
Summary:
Global drug makers have had a nauseous time in India's $14 billion market. Prices have
dropped and valuable patents have been overruled as the authorities strive to make medicines
affordable for the 70 per cent of people living on less than $2 a day. From a regulatory
perspective, the government has "messed up", as one top industry consultant put it. But with
1.2bn people increasingly seeking both on- and off-prescription drugs, the market is too big
for firms to simply throw in the towel. The two top foreign players, Abbott Laboratories and
GlaxoSmithKline Plc., are actually stepping up investment, and others such as AstraZeneca
Plc are considering doing so. India harbors an army of companies driving prices down with
copies of off-patent drugs. It also has a government imposing wide-ranging price reductions
and a legal system with a history of disallowing patent protection. Perturbed, global drug
makers are soldiering on.

Compulsory license:
India stunned the pharmaceutical industry in 2012 by overriding a valid patent on cancer drug
Nexavar from Bayer AG and issuing a so-called compulsory license to Natco Pharmacy Ltd,
allowing the local firm to sell a copy for a fraction of the price.

Price cutting:
Market growth fell below 10pc last year, largely due to government-imposed price cuts on
many basic drugs, while even high-end biotech specialist Roche Holding AG agreed to
voluntary price cuts for some cancer drugs to improve market access.

Article no 2:
Drug sector sees adverse impact on local production.
Updated 2014-02-08 10:47:59

The industry has projected its position in its interaction with the government and
media on several occasions over the past few months as Pakistan is believed to
be inching towards awarding non-discriminatory market access (NDMA) status to
India this month.
According to a presentation made by the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association (PPMA), vast difference exists in the dynamics of drug sector in India
and Pakistan. Pakistans pharma industry is worth $2 versus $40bn Indian
industry and exports fetch $200m here against $20bn in India.
We have presented our case to the Federal Commerce Minister Khurram
Dastagir in a meeting held in Islamabad, former PPMA chairman Dr Kaiser
Waheed, told Dawn, adding that the minister patiently listened to the PPMA
representatives, assuring them to look into the matter.
Due to sheer size of Indian economy/generic industry, the neighbouring country
has huge economies of scale while Pakistan would be unable to compete on
equal basis in Indian market.
Dr Waheed said that MNCs would shut down their plants and serve market from
their facilities across the border.
Currently a lot of toll-manufacturing for MNCs is done by local medicine makers
and the business will too shift to India.
After the initial dumping period in which low-cost players are driven out, prices will
go up again.
Former PPMA chief said countrys exports, which are growing by almost 50pc per
annum, will suffer.
Out of 700 manufacturing units, 70pc will shut down, creating unemployment,
besides causing governments revenue losses.
Some of the major obstacles in free or bilateral trade with India are existence of
non-tariff barriers, trust deficit, specific visa regimes, no direct banking channels
etc.

Kaiser said PPMA has urged the commerce minister to place a 10-15 year
moratorium on import of finished products from India by retaining medicines on
the negative list (HS Code 3004.9099).
The association called for amending Drug Registration Policy of the DRAP to
allow registration of only those imported brands that are manufactured in plants
approved by the registered bodies and sold freely in US, UK, EU countries,
Switzerland, Japan or Australia.
The government has issued a negative list of 1,209 items, including 49
pharmaceutical products that India cannot export to Pakistan.
Some of the items included in the negative list are Ibuprofen, Paracetamol,
Penicillin, Ampicillin, Insulin, eye drops, ointments and vaccines for veterinary use,
amongst others.
Sources also suggest that once the MFN status is granted to India, the negative
list is expected to be phased out.
An official in Pharma Bureau, the representative body of 22 research-based
MNCs, said the process of registration of finished pharmaceutical products from
India should be subjected to the same requirements/pre-requisites as applicable
to finished pharmaceutical products imported from other sources/countries ie the
intended MFN status to India, should not supersede the existing policy of
registration of imported pharmaceutical products.
Moreover, only those products be allowed for registration in Pakistan, which have
evidence of registration in referenced countries (FDA, EMEA, Australia, Japan).
To ensure that the local pharmaceutical Industry remains competitive with
imported finished pharmaceutical products, it is essential that a level-playing field
be provided to the local Industry by way of a transparent and predictable
regulatory structure, processes and policies.
He said the current status of the newly-set up Drugs Regulatory Authority of
Pakistan (DRAP) is in a stage of evolution with a number of policies not fully in
place, including pricing, narcotics, toll manufacturing, vitamins, etc.
Without such policies in place, the local industry will be unable to plan and be
competitive by investments for capacity and quality enhancements.
The pharmaceutical industry in India is greatly supported by their government by
way of subsidies and incentives, including SEZ status, which gives Indian industry
preferential access to electricity and gas at tax-free rates.

India also employs several non-tariff barriers to imports into its market, which
must be countered first and a level-playing field created before opening up the
local Pakistan market to the Indian industry.
The government, he said, should take appropriate corrective measures; first prior
to including pharmaceutical products in the MFN status being granted to India so
as to ensure that only such products are allowed to be imported from India which
meet the basic minimum quality requirements/guidelines of the DRAP and other
regulatory bodies of regional countries such as Bangladesh.

Reference: http://www.dawn.com/news/1085585/drug-sector-sees-adverse-impact-onlocal-production

Summary of Article No 2:
Article Title: Drug sector sees adverse impact on local production.
Writer: Amir Shafaat Khan.
Publish Date: 8 February 2014.
Summary:
Business community, represented by multiple trade bodies, supports closer trade ties with
India, but the drug sector anticipates an adverse impact on local production. According to
a presentation made by the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA),
vast difference exists in the dynamics of drug sector in India and Pakistan. Pakistans
pharmacy industry is worth $2 versus $40bn Indian industry and exports fetch $200m here
against $20bn in India. Due to sheer size of Indian economy/generic industry, the
neighboring country has huge economies of scale while Pakistan would be unable to
compete on equal basis in Indian market. An official in Pharmacy Bureau, the
representative body of 22 research-based MNCs, said the process of registration of
finished pharmaceutical products from India should be subjected to the same
requirements/pre-requisites as applicable to finished pharmaceutical products imported
from other sources/countries ie the intended MFN status to India, should not supersede the
existing policy of registration of imported pharmaceutical products. The government, he
said, should take appropriate corrective measures; first prior to including pharmaceutical
products in the MFN status being granted to India so as to ensure that only such products
are allowed to be imported from India which meet the basic minimum quality

requirements/guidelines of the DRAP and other regulatory bodies of regional countries

such as Bangladesh.

Article No 3:

Government urged to encourage investment

in Pharma sector
Mansoor Ahmad February 2 2014

LAHORE: Pharmaceutical experts have urged the government to encourage

investment in Pakistans pharmaceutical industry, as it lacks even a single Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) approved plant as compared to 90 in India, 22 in China,
120 in Taiwan and four in Bangladesh.
Many reports on pharmaceutical sector as rusting in the cupboards and planners
have failed to benefit from them, including the latest McKenzie report prepared by
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Planning Commission
of Pakistan, the experts said.
We have already operating on undeclared drug emergency because the industry is
unable to produce many essential drugs roved by Drug Regulatory Agency does not
even cover the cost, a representative of a multinational pharmaceutical company
said.
He said average profitability of the pharmaceutical industry around the globe is 30
percent. Even the multinationals in Pakistan are operating at one-thirds of this
average profit, he said, adding that this is the reason that the investment and up
gradation of technology has dried up in the country.
Price is not the only issue impacting the drug availability, he said, adding that the
approval of new molecule is also a major issue that deprives Pakistani patients of
latest innovative drugs. Another issue that propped up recently, he said, is the refusal
of the DRA to renew contract manufacturing for more than three years.
He regretted that the shortages created due to flawed pharmaceutical policies have
made many lifesaving drugs out of reach of poor patients. The drugs short in the
market are replaced by smuggled medicines, which do not come under the quality
preview of regulators, as they are sold clandestinely. The issue of date of expiry and
storage conditions cannot be guaranteed in case of smuggled drugs, he said, adding
that the patients pay very high price for these risk prone drugs.
A domestic drug manufacturer regretted that there is no transparency in fixation of
drug prices. Some companies got prices enhanced probably through influence or
other means, while the majority is waiting for rationalization of prices since 2002.

The discretion of bureaucracy should be eliminated and a fair mechanism for price
increase should be instituted, he said, adding that the best option will be to fix the
average price of the same drug approved in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China.
For the approval of new molecules, the drugs approved in any two of the three major
economies should be permitted in Pakistan. He said these economies include United
States of America, European Union and Japan.
This will remove all bureaucratic hassles in the approval of prices and new
molecules, while guaranteeing availability of best quality drugs at reasonable prices.
Another pharmaceutical player regretted that despite high regulation of drug sector,
both the availability of essential drugs and their prices because of shortages are very
high.
According to McKenzie report, average availability of low-cost drugs in Pakistan is
four percent in public sector and 25 percent in private sector. This availability is 65
and 95 percent in Tunisia, 50 and 90 percent in Sudan, and 28 and 80 percent in
Jordan.
Pakistan has the lowest per capita spending in the world. By deregulating the sector
to the level practiced in India, Pakistan could make great strides in this sector, he
said.
He said India is now one of the leading medicine exporters among the emerging
economies. All drug exports from India are generated by its domestic pharmaceutical
companies, he said, adding that Pakistani companies could achieve high export
growth if we are facilitated through a prudent pharma policy that facilitate the sector
to establish in building plants that meet the highest quality standards globally (and
create access to the largest export markets of the US and Europe). Our plants
should be FDA approved to be able to penetrate in the US market, he added.
A local drug manufacturer said that deregulation does not mean lowering the quality
standards. Domestic drug manufacturers will, in fact, welcome stringent quality
control regime.
He said DRA should set and enforce minimum quality standards for any
manufacturer that wants to operate in Pakistan (eg, GMP certification for operation of
facilities). And finally the policy should create a technically capable, fully trained
inspection team to enforce quality standards, he added.

Reference:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-3-201022-Govt-urged-toencourage-investment-in-pharma-sector

Summary of Article No 3:
Article Title: Government urged to encourage investment in
pharmacy sector
Writer Name: Mansoor Ahmed
Publish Date: 10.02.2014
Summary:
Pharmaceutical experts have urged the government to encourage investment in Pakistans
pharmaceutical industry, as it lacks even a single Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approved plant as compared to 90 in India, 22 in China, 120 in Taiwan and four in
Bangladesh. Many reports on pharmaceutical sector as rusting in the cupboards and planners
have failed to benefit from them, including the latest McKenzie report prepared by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Planning Commission of Pakistan, the
experts said. Price is not the only issue impacting the drug availability, he said, adding that
the approval of new molecule is also a major issue that deprives Pakistani patients of latest
innovative drugs. Another issue that propped up recently, he said, is the refusal of the DRA to
renew contract manufacturing for more than three years.
He regretted that the shortages created due to flawed pharmaceutical policies have made
many lifesaving drugs out of reach of poor patients. The drugs short in the market are
replaced by smuggled medicines, which do not come under the quality preview of regulators,
as they are sold clandestinely. The issue of date of expiry and storage conditions cannot be
guaranteed in case of smuggled drugs, he said, adding that the patients pay very high price for
these risk prone drugs.
For the approval of new molecules, the drugs approved in any two of the three major
economies should be permitted in Pakistan. He said these economies include United States of
America, European Union and Japan.

Article No 4:
Indian drugs to ruin Pak Pharma industry: PPMA chief
March 10, 2014.
ASMA GHANI

ISLAMABAD Fearing devastating consequences for the local pharmaceutical

industry when the Indian industry will be allowed to export their products to Pakistan
by the yearend, the local industry has demanded of the government to allow only the
imports of products approved by the international drug regularity bodies to save the
local industry.
As Pakistan has agreed in principle to give India most-favoured nation (MFN) status
and under the agreement the Indian pharmaceutical industry will be allowed to
export their products to Pakistan by the next year, it will ruin the budding
pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. The Chairman of Pakistan Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Muhammad Asad expressed these fears while
talking to a select group of journalists Wednesday who were also facilitated a visit of
Global Group of Companies to receive a briefing about the operations and
improvement of pharmaceutical industry in the country.
The Chairman said the local industry is not against the import of medicines from
India but only those medicines should be imported that are not manufactured locally
or approved by the European Union and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of
USA.
He said though Pakistani medicines are expensive due to energy crisis and import of
raw material from China and India, still the quality Indian medicines have the same
rates as local products has in Pakistan. He also quoting a World Health Organisation
report said majority of medicines manufactured in India are not up to international
standards and 60 per cent of total counterfeit drugs used in the world are
manufactured in India only.
He said the decision of giving permission to Indian industry to export to Pakistan be
taken carefully and the local industry should also be taken on board as the Indian
industry is not regulated by the federal government and every province has its own
standards and bodies. And though there are good companies in India competing
internationally but many have been producing spurious drugs too.
He said, though, the local industry has improved a lot in the last 30 years on their
own and with out any government support and 95 percent medicines in the country
and in various hospitals are used of national companies still it cannot compete with
the Indian pharmaceutical industry of 40,000 companies.
Pakistan is among those 15 to16 countries where the medicines are locally

manufactured despite that only 10 percent of the raw material is available in Pakistan
due to which the cost of production of the medicine in Pakistan increases 40 to 50
times more than India, the Chairman added.
He informed that over 500 national companies have been manufacturing various
drugs in the country and of them 25 are multinational contributing 60 percent to the
national economy while multinationals have 40 percent share. The companies have
been exporting their products to 60 countries mainly in Africa, Middle East and
Afghanistan.
But for the last one-and-a-half years due to absence of any drug regularity body, the
process of registration of new drugs and companies have come to a halt causing
billions of rupees loss to the industry. He said the process of import and export of the
raw material is also at a standstill and only hardship cases have been processed by
the government. After the devolution of health ministry the Drug Regularity Authority
had ceased to exist and, though, the Drug Regularity Agency of Pakistan (DRAP)
has been established through an ordinance but it has not been made functional yet.
According to him due to non-functional of the agency, the licenses of various
companies have not been renewed and about 30 new factories have been awaiting
their registration causing losses to the investors.

Reference:

http://www.nation.com.pk/islamabad/10-May-2012/indian-drugs-to-ruin-pak-pharmaindustry-ppma-chief

Summary of Article No 4:
Article Title: Indian drugs to ruin Pak pharmacy industry: PPMA chief.
Writer Name: Asma Ghani.
Publish Date: March 10, 2014
Summary:
Fearing devastating consequences for the local pharmaceutical industry when the Indian
industry will be allowed to export their products to Pakistan by the yearend, the local industry
has demanded of the government to allow only the imports of products approved by the
international drug regularity bodies to save the local industry. Pakistani medicines are
expensive due to energy crisis and import of raw material from China and India, still the
quality Indian medicines have the same rates as local products has in Pakistan. He also
quoting a World Health Organization report said majority of medicines manufactured in India
are not up to international standards and 60 per cent of total counterfeit drugs used in the
world are manufactured in India only. The local industry has improved a lot in the last 30
years on their own and with out any government support and 95 percent medicines in the

country and in various hospitals is used of national companies still it cannot compete with the
Indian pharmaceutical industry of 40,000 companies. Pakistan is among those 15 to16
countries where the medicines are locally manufactured despite that only 10 percent of the
raw material is available in Pakistan due to which the cost of production of the medicine in
Pakistan increases 40 to 50 times more than India, the Chairman added. Pharmaceutical
industry is of technical nature thus they should be dealt technically instead of being
politicized. Due to the hype created by the media in the scandal, the manufacturers even
stopped manufacturing of the ephedrine medicines used by Asthma patients to avoid any
involvement in the issue and ultimately the patient suffered due to unnecessary publicity.

Article No 5:
No quick fix to Pak-Indian Pharma trade
Posted by: Farah Jamil, Uploaded: 1st January 2014

Take the trade potential of health sector commodities between India and Pakistan,
for example. Pakistani surgical goods manufacturing industry has enjoyed extensive
growth during past several years. Despite its export-orientation, the sector trades
only two percent of its annual export with the eastern neighbour. A similar story is
found when one looks at the break up of medicinal exports of India; worlds largest
producer of generic drugs exports a dismal $60 million worth pharmaceutical items to
its western neighbour, that too through informal trade channels.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is the technical barriers to trade and not political
considerations that hold the pharma sectors in two countries from realising the full
potential of cross-border trade. On surface, Pakistani pharma industry remains
opposed to lowering of tariff barriers and phasing out of negative list items, but there
is more than that meets the eye.
Industry participants claim while prices of sixty percent of products are cheaper on
the western side of the border, there are no gains to be made from bilateral trade
anytime soon. For one, the cheaper product prices are not by free choice: Pakistani
pharma remains heavily regulated which keeps prices artificially low.
One consequence of price regulation is low margins for the industry which in turn
has held back investment-to date, the country has no FDA approved local
manufacturing plant, which means restrictions on export to India (or any other
country) due to questionable product quality.
On the other hand, several local drug manufacturers of India not only have FDA
approved manufacturing facilities but also enjoy strict policy check on standards
maintenance and plant monitoring. In sharp contrast, the broken Drug Regulatory

Authority of Pakistan has thus far failed to devise a pricing mechanism, much less
bring in quality control procedures.
Thus, quality of generic drugs manufactured in India is demonstrably superior. This
raises fears among Pakistani manufacturers if gates are thrown open to Indian
exporters, the fractured regulatory environment on this side of the border may put
them out of business.
But surely, not all cross-border exchange can be bad. According to UN Comtrade,
Pakistan enjoys a strong comparative advantage in surgical goods manufacturing,
and the market next door is waiting to be tapped. Similarly, there is thriving demand
for unani and ayurvedic alternate medicines in both India and Pakistan, and yet trade
is mainly conducted through informal channels. Furthermore, researchers have
pointed out that the livestock and veterinary medicines demand in India, a segment
in which Pakistani manufacturers specialise also remains largely unexplored.
And then there is the intra-industry trade. While Pakistani manufacturers remain
largely fearful of finished goods trade with India, importing raw material and
intermediate goods can only serve to their advantage. For so long as the price
controls remain in place, local manufacturers are focused on minimizing their input
costs in order to maximize profits.
And what better place to look for cheaper trade than the worlds third largest
producer by volume, who incidentally also shares a 2,900-km long border with us. If
only the regulator in two countries could sit together and harmonize their product
formulations. Hey, there is no tax on dreaming!

Reference:

http://www.aaj.tv/2014/01/no-quick-fix-to-pak-indian-pharma-trade/

Summary of Article No 5:
Article Title: No quick fix to Pak-Indian pharmacy trade
Posted by: Farah Jamil
Date: 1st January 2014
Summary:
Pakistani surgical goods manufacturing industry has enjoyed extensive growth during past
several years. Despite its export-orientation, the sector trades only two percent of its annual
export with the eastern neighbor. A similar story is found when one looks at the break up of
medicinal exports of India; worlds largest producer of generic drugs exports a dismal $60
million worth pharmaceutical items to its western neighbor, that too through informal trade
channels. Pakistani pharmacy industry remains opposed to lowering of tariff barriers and
phasing out of negative list items, but there is more than that meets the eye. One consequence
of price regulation is low margins for the industry which in turn has held back investment-to

date, the country has no FDA approved local manufacturing plant, which means restrictions
on export to India (or any other country) due to questionable product quality. Pakistani
manufacturers remain largely fearful of finished goods trade with India, importing raw
material and intermediate goods can only serve to their advantage. For so long as the price
controls remain in place, local manufacturers are focused on minimizing their input costs in
order to maximize profits. Better place to look for cheaper trade than the worlds third largest
producer by volume, who incidentally also shares a 2,900-km long border with us. If only the
regulator in two countries could sit together and harmonize their product formulations. Hey,
there is no tax on dreaming!

Article No 6:
Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
denies raise in drug prices
Wednesday, 22 January 2014 13:08
Posted by Parvez Jabri

PPMA Secretary General, Khawaja Javed Akhter has categorically denied

impression being created through news stories published in certain dailies about
20% to 80% increase in the cost of medicine during past one month.
"On the contrary the 14 medicines referred to in the news items are being sold for
same prices for last more than one year," he said.
The PPMA office-bearer taking exception to the news reports said otherwise too any
increase in drug prices cannot be ascribed to the stay order granted by Sindh High
Court.
"As a matter of fact our member companies are strictly confirming to the 15%
increase in prices as per SRO (1002) dated 27th November 2013 issued by DRAP,"
said Khawaja Javed Akhter.
He said PPMA as a representative body of the pharmaceutical manufacturers has
directed its members to remain strictly within the limits granted by the above referred
SRO.

Reference: http://www.brecorder.com/pakistan/industries-a-sectors/154362-pakistanpharmaceutical-manufacturers-association-denies-raise-in-drug-prices.html

Summary of Article No 6:
Article Name: Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association denies raise in drug
prices.

Posted by:

Parvez Jabri

Date: Wednesday, 22 January 2014 13:08

Summary:
PPMA Secretary General, Khawaja Javed Akhter has categorically denied impression being
created through news stories published in certain dailies about 20% to 80% increase in the
cost of medicine during past one month. "On the contrary the 14 medicines referred to in the
news items are being sold for same prices for last more than one year," he said.The PPMA
office-bearer taking exception to the news reports said otherwise too any increase in drug
prices can not be ascribed to the stay order granted by Sindh High Court. "As a matter of fact
our member companies are strictly confirming to the 15% increase in prices as per SRO
(1002) dated 27th November 2013 issued by DRAP," said Khawaja Javed Akhter. He said
PPMA as a representative body of the pharmaceutical manufacturers has directed its members
to remain strictly within the limits granted by the above referred SRO.

Article No 7:
Pharmacists are not allowed to let their degrees: Ayyaz Ali
Khan
Jan 23, 2014 adminpharmanews All News, Ayyaz Ali Khan Says, News 2

AYYAZ ALI KHAN Chief Drug Controller Health Department Government of the
Punjab, Lahore said while addressing in the seminar of Hajvery university that
Pharmacist are strictly restricted to let their degrees. They should work hard in
pharmacy field in order to get success. He said if someone demands their degrees,
they should stop her/him to do so. Moreover he said that if someone to let his degree
he is not a pharmacist because degree doesnt have any importance without
knowledge and as well as practical experiences. Only pharmacy degree holder cant
be pharmacist but knowledge and expertise matter a lot in pharmacy department.
Pharmacist is very important role of pharmacy field but if he/she doesnt play an
important role through having his/her complete professional skills is not a successful
pharmacist. Ayyaz Ali Khan said that there are a lot of pharmacy degree holders
but having no useful knowledge and skills. I advise them to work hard in this field to
be successful.

Reference: http://www.pharmanews.pk/pharmacists-allwed-let-degrees-ayyaz-ali-khan/
Summary of Article No 6:
Article Title: Pharmacists are not allowed to let their degrees
Date: Jan 23, 2014
Summary:
Chief Drug Controller Health Department Government of the Punjab, Lahore said while
addressing in the seminar of Hajvery University that Pharmacist is strictly restricted to let
their degrees. They should work hard in pharmacy field in order to get success. He said if
someone demands their degrees, they should stop her/him to do so. Moreover he said that if
someone to let his degree he is not a pharmacist because degree doesnt have any importance
without knowledge and as well as practical experiences. Only pharmacy degree holder cant
be pharmacist but knowledge and expertise matter a lot in pharmacy department. Pharmacist
is very important role of pharmacy field but if he/she doesnt play an important role through
having his/her complete professional skills is not a successful pharmacist Ayyaz Ali Khan
said that there are a lot of pharmacy degree holders but having no useful knowledge and
skills. I advise them to work hard in this field to be successful.

Article Synopsis (Slides)