Maravi

Distributors cut imports of drugs by 40 per cent

Distributors cut imports of drugs by 40 per cent
By Joan Chirwa
Wednesday July 02, 2008 [04:00]

LOCAL distributors of pharmaceutical products have this year cut the number of imports by 40 per cent owing to the government’s revision of fees for the industry. From over 1,400 drugs retained last year, nine local distributors have this year managed to retain only 929 products, saying the business was slowly becoming uneconomic.

The local distributors have warned of a serious shortage of drugs on the local market in the medium term resulting from the new regulations.

The government, through the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (PRA) early this year came up with a Statutory Instrument which compelled pharmaceutical distributors in the country to pay product renewal and registration licence fees at almost 400 per cent more than the previous charges.

For example, imported finished products now attract a registration fee of K3.8 million from K759,000 per product type per annum while retention fees have been hiked from K505,980 to K2.5 million.

Registration for products packaged in Zambia now attract registration fee of K3.3 million while retention fee is charged at K2.5 million for each product type per annum.
Zambia’s pharmaceutical licence fees are higher than most of the countries in the region.
Tanzania is charging US $100 (about K330,000) retention fee per product per annum while its registration fee currently stands at US $500 (about K1.6 million).

The local distributors say it had become uneconomic to maintain certain product lines as they were not sold in bulk compared to the amount of money required to retain such drugs on the Zambian market.

Zambia Pharmaceutical Business Forum (ZPBF) chairperson Frank Ng’ambi said the pharmaceutical industry which had not recorded any growth for the past 15 years was likely to collapse.

“Ultimately, the industry will shrink. Like any other industry in Zambia, production of pharmaceutical products is not cheap, so importing is the best option. The forum proposed that the increments should be gradual, so that the industry is not injured,” said Ng’ambi.

There is also a fear of monopoly by a few companies that will afford to register and retain a good number of products for the local market.

And ZPBF vice-chairperson Regina Mudondo said the impact of the new regulations would be felt at the end of this year, saying some people might not afford to access certain life- saving drugs as they would either be too expensive or not available at all on the market.

Officials at PRA could not comment as director-general Esnart Mwape was reportedly in a meeting by press time. Ministry of health permanent secretary Dr Simon Miti was also out of reach.

Labels: MEDICINE

posted by MrK @ 3:22 AM