According to reports, in order to end its dependence on China, Indian pharmaceutical companies are seeking local manufacturers of pharmaceutical active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or trying to produce them in-house.
Industry data show that, despite its large production capacity of generic drugs and vaccines, India is known as the "World Pharmacy". But by 2019, China has accounted for half of its API demand, and this figure was almost zero three years ago.
Executives from India’s Cadilla Healthcare Company, Cipla Co., Ltd., Sun Pharma and Biocom Biopharmaceuticals said on Tuesday that they are actively working to reduce their reliance on raw materials produced in China. They also pointed out that the lack of supply in China due to the new crown epidemic is also a major factor. At the beginning of last year, many of them were scrambling to find the raw materials needed to ensure that important drugs sell well all over the world.
At the Asian Biotechnology Conference in the State of Telangana in southern India, the director of supply of Cadilla Healthcare said: "Due to the anti-Chinese sentiment (in India), most companies are trying to reduce their own risks to make it clear that they are The supply chain connection with China is limited.” He also said: “For key API chemical molecules, our idea is to carry out backward integration. In this process, we will control the part that has the greatest impact on our business, while ensuring The security of the entire value chain." He said that the company is also looking for reliable local suppliers that can guarantee consistency and competitive prices.
The head of supply of Cipla Co., Ltd. stated that in addition to cooperating with local suppliers, it has launched the "API Reimagining" program to use recent government incentives such as production subsidies to expand its own production capacity.
Baikang Biopharmaceuticals’ supply director said that one of the company’s goals is “what percentage of revenue is independent of China”. He said: "We are happy to say that in the last quarter, we have almost 50% (revenue) completely out of the relationship with China. This does not mean that we will no longer source from China, but (indicating) we No longer rely on China.” However, he also said that India will have to improve its infrastructure and speed up the approval process in order to reach China's production scale and speed.
Source: Chemical Network
