Skills That You Can Learn From Chinese Pharma Mess | UPSC
HEADLINES:
COVID-19 and the big pharma mess
WHY IN NEWS:
With more deaths around COVID-19 . There is a significant rise in Pharma industries.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Drugs: Med Parks :DGCI
LEARNING:
For PRELIMS understand the essence of API ! We have a brief comparison on import data too.
For MAINS it is the right time to frame a wonderful answer on global medicine supply chain and Chinese supremacy involved. You should fetch more marks in such answers with handful of examples.
ISSUE:
THE PHARMA HIT
- With close to three million people hit by COVID-19 globally and over 0.2 million dead, pharmaceuticals have turned out to be the most vital sector.
- It’s about national security, say countries, and each wants to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies.
PROTECTIONIST POLICES :
- USA : The federal government seized masks, thermometers and other essentials ordered by different states.
- FRANCE : The government requisitioned all available masks for its own use.
- ISRAEL : The country deployed its intelligence agency, Mossad, to take control of all ventilators in the country.
- GERMANY : It has 25,000 ventilators with 10,000 more on way, but the country is unwilling to share it.
ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL INGREDIENTS (APIS)
RESTRICTED LIST : India put 13 APIS, also called bulk drugs, and their formulations on the restricted list for exports on March 3 and then banned their export on April 4.
EXPORT INDICES : These accounted for 10 per cent of India’s total pharma export.
- The anti-malarial HCQ was part of the list.
- But India was forced to lift the ban on humanitarian grounds.
- Export of formulations made from paracetamol were also allowed, though DGFT continued to restrict export of the API for paracetamol.
THE API CRISIS
- Developed countries make APIS only for patented drugs.
- It is left to India and China to produce APIS for generic drugs.
- The US imports 80 per cent of the APIS from the two countries.
CHINESE HEGEMONY :
- China is the biggest player.
- It provides 97 per cent of the antibiotics and over 90 per cent of vitamin C used in the US.
- 90 per cent of the APIS for generic medicines in the EU were sourced from India and China.
CHINESE MARKET DOMINANCE STRATEGY :
- Sector first developed in China, it was state-owned.
- The government’s strategically support to the industry.
- Incentives such as cheap electricity,Water and labour,
- Negligible financial costs and no charge on land;
- Established special industrial zones.
Chinese APIS in 2018 was $30.48 billion and the export volume reached 929.72 million tonnes.-China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health .
INDIA vs CHINA #PHARMA BATTLE :
China emerged the winner and managed to kill India’s existing pharmaceutical sector.
FOR EXAMPLE : China dumped cheap Penicillin G in India, outperforming Indian manufacturers like Hindustan Antibiotic in the public sector and many more.
- Unlike China, India is more involved in producing finished products.
- India is the world’s largest provider of generic medicines, accounting for 20 per cent of global generic drug exports in volume terms.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Indian manufacturers represent 67 per cent of the 563 WHO pre-qualified pharmaceutical products for HIV/AIDS, diarrhoea, hepatitis, malaria, influenza, reproductive health, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases.
- Unfortunately, production of 130 of these drugs is dependent on APIS sourced from China.
- Of the total import of APIS in India, 67.56 per cent is from China.
Undoubtedly the Skills That You Can Learn From Chinese Pharma Mess will be Grow local , Strategic imports and inculcating new business technologies.
SOURCES:DownToEarth | Skills That You Can Learn From Chinese Pharma Mess | UPSC
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