KARACHI: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) recently agreed to increase the price of paracetamol after various drug manufacturers warned that they would be unable to produce the medicine at the current price due to rising raw material costs from China.
A DRAP official said to a local newspaper that DRAP's Drug Pricing Committee (DPC) had recommended some relief to Paracetamol manufacturers as prices of its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) had increased manifolds in the international market.
However, the official claimed that the summary to increase the price of over-the-counter medicine, commonly used to treat pain and reduce high fever, would only be increased after the federal cabinet's approval.
Amid the 5th wave of COVID-19, various brands of paracetamol vanished from pharmacies and were sold at excessive prices, as drug manufacturers claimed that the prices of the standard medicine's Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), which is imported from China, had soared. They could no longer manufacture the medicine at the MRP set by the DRAP.
Qazi Muhammad Mansoor Dilawar, Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), told the local media that prices of API for the manufacturing of paracetamol have increased from Rs 600 to Rs 2600 per kg. Despite an increase in API prices, he said, DRAP insisted on selling the medicine at Rs1.90 per tablet while production cost has increased to Rs2.30 per tablet, he added.
Chairman PPMA, however, learnt that DRAP would forward the summary to the federal cabinet for approval for the increase in the price of medicine.
