Majority of medicine supply restored across Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Most medicines that vanished from the market in the last two years have now reappeared and are available at retailers as well. This is what the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said.

Around 80 percent, or 200 medicines, went out of production after regulated retail prices fell below manufacturing costs, leading to their wide shortage. Affected products included medicines for tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mental health conditions.

Tauqeer Ul Haq, former chairman of the PPMA, said supply conditions started normalizing after the government deregulated the prices of nonessential medicines in February 2024.

Out of close to 200 medicines that had vanished, around 160 have now hit the domestic markets, while the remaining 40 would return within three to four months.

He said the government, which continues to regulate prices of essential life-saving medicines, also approved price increases for around 100 essential drugs over the past 22 months to bring prices above production cost levels, helping restore supply.

The industry stakeholders said the production cost increased manifold due to rupee devaluation and an increase in the import price of raw materials, which was compounded by the disruption in imports from India.