New Delhi: In spite of the controversies over cough syrups, India’s pharmaceutical industry maintained a steady growth in overall exports of medicinal products in the ongoing fiscal so far.
The data by a government supported agency, accessed by ThePrint, shows that India exported pharmaceutical products worth $6,578.31 million between April to June quarter, registering a marginal growth of 5.1 percent as against the same period last year.
Between April and June last year, the country had exported drugs worth $6,258.83 million, as per data shared by the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) under the Union ministry of commerce & industry.
Overall, India’s pharmaceutical exports during the financial year 2022-23 had touched $25.394 billion.
“The instances of export of adulterated cough syrups by some Indian drugmakers have certainly dented the country’s image as the pharmacy of the world but the export figures show that it has not had major impact on the confidence that several countries have in our medicinal products,” Pharmexcil director general Uday Bhaskar told ThePrint.
The country, he said, exported to over 210 destinations across the world during the last fiscal and around 60 percent of the exports were to highly regulated markets like North America and Europe.
“It is a fact that some countries, especially those where adulterated cough syrups reached last year are doubly cautious about importing such products from India now. But given that crores of batches of medicines leave Indian shores every year, these incidents (of adulterated drugs exported) can be seen only as aberrations and not norms,” Bhaskar asserted.
Cough, cold and fever syrups comprise a miniscule percentage of total medicines exported from India, he said.
India is the world’s largest exclusive generic exporter, with drug formulations & biologicals (a new class of medicines that include therapeutics based on large molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies & gene therapies), comprising the third largest principal commodity exported from the country, according to Pharmexcila.
Also, 65-70 percent of the World Health Organistaion’s vaccines (essential Immunization schedule) requirement are sourced from India.
Also Read: Trade body says Indian pharma exports to hit $27 billion this fiscal, despite cough syrup deaths
World Health Organisation (WHO) alerts
Meanwhile, in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Union health ministry conceded that the WHO had issued alerts in three cases of syrup products exported from India.
“Subsequent to the reports, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in coordination with state drug controllers carried out joint investigations,” it said.
For the first time, the government said that after a complaint from Marshall Islands & Federated States of Micronesia, the CDSCO, in coordination with Punjab drugs authority, conducted a joint investigation at QP Pharmachem Ltd. The drug samples drawn from the manufacturing premises for test and analysis were declared as ‘Not of Standard Quality’, it said.
“The State Licensing Authority has directed the firm to stop all the manufacturing activities with immediate effect,” the reply said.
In April, the WHO had raised an alert related to a batch of cough syrup supplied by QP Pharmachem, saying it contained “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants”.
Last October, the UN health body had sounded a global alert warning that four cough syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals could be potentially linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.
Two months later, Marion Biotech came under lens after Uzbekistan linked cough and fever syrups supplied by the Noida-based pharmacy firm to the death of 18 kids.
In these cases too, the government told Parliament,”following the suspension of the manufacturing license, all the manufacturing and export activities of the said companies are halted”.
Responding to ThePrint’s query in June, the WHO said that it was probing allegations of 20 substandard paracetamol and cough syrups by 15 manufacturers from India and Indonesia that may be behind nearly 300 deaths across 9 countries.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: After WHO alert, drug controller general warns against use of cough syrups containing pholcodine