Pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh meeting 98% of its domestic demand has the potential to become the next RMG in terms of export, speakers told in a seminar on Saturday.
The seminar titled “Export of pharmaceutical sector upon LDC graduation: strategies and way forward” was organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).
Salman Fazlur Rahman, MP, Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister was present as the chief guest at the seminar and Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was present as special guest. Dhaka Chamber President Rizwan Rahman chaired the seminar.
Salman Fazlur Rahman, MP, Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister said that our achievement in the pharmaceutical sector is phenomenal and the secret of this success is the skilled human resource we have. He said technological advancement is taking place in this sector so we need more research and development for more advancement, he added. But shifting to producing biological drugs will be a major challenge for us, he told. 16 out of top 20 bestselling medicines in the world are of biological drugs right at this moment.
Dr. Ahmad Kaikaus, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister said LDC graduation will be an opportunity for us despite there is some challenges we must have to overcome. Mentioning private sector as the partner of government he said that private sector has already proved their ability to lead the economy.
To identify the challenges of this sector, various stakeholders’ consultation meeting can play an important role, he added.
Dhaka Chamber President Rizwan Rahman in his opening remarks said that later graduation, Bangladesh will face higher tariff regime ranging from 8%-15% in the export market which may decline export earnings by 14.28% equivalent to USD5.73 billion.
“Upon economic graduation, our IP exemption benefit will be reduced till 2026 having no import restrictions. The pharmaceutical sector may be affected by loss of IP waiver resulting in decline of generic and patented drugs production and export share”, Rizwan added.
Professor Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in his keynote paper said that Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector meets 97% of the domestic demand worth of about USD 3.5 billion. In FY2022 export of pharma products was USD 188.8 million.
He said Bangladesh’s rank was 67th in the global pharma export market in 2021. But in terms of Active pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), Bangladesh is heavily dependent on import. In FY 2020-21, Bangladesh’s import of API was USD 1050.1 million. Global API market is of USD200 billion.
AHM Shafiquzzaman, Director General, Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection, Mr. M Mosaddek Hossain, Managing Director, UniMed UniHealth Pharmaceuticals Limited and Professor A B M Faroque, Director, Biomedical Research Centre, University of Dhaka also spoke on the occasion as panel discussants.
