Indian drugmakers express concerns about bulk drug manufacturing incentives

Serious concerns have been raised by pharmaceutical companies in India over proposed incentive cuts to bulk drug manufacturers. With the government slashing support from a proposed outlay of $750 million to $90 million, drug manufacturers insist they would be forced to continue to depend on China for raw materials, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

Earlier, the government had announced plans to set up bulk drug parks and bring in a policy to support manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates. The aim was to facilitate domestic manufacturing, and shield India from any drug shortage of these ingredients from China.

The proposed bulk drug manufacturing policy was also meant to boost and help the Indian pharmaceutical sector turn into a $200 billion industry by 2030. The intended policy was to be based on the recommendations of a committee under former secretary (health research) VM Katoch, to reduce India’s dependence on Chinese API imports. India imported APIs worth $2.07 billion from China in 2015-16.