INTRODUCTION

Pharmaceutical Industry has grown in Bangladesh in the last two decades at a considerable rate. Its healthy growth supports development of auxiliary industries for producing glass bottles, plastic containers, aluminium collapsible tubes, aluminium PP caps, infusion sets, disposable syringes, and corrugated cartons. Some of these products are also being exported. Printing and packaging industries and even the advertising agencies consider pharmaceutical industry as their major clients and a key driving force for their growth.

The sector consistently creates job opportunities for highly qualified people. Many established entrepreneurs of today started with pharmaceutical companies in the country. Pharmaceutical companies are either directly or indirectly contributing largely towards raising the standard of healthcare through enabling local healthcare personnel to gain access to newer products and also to latest drug information.

Following the Drug (Control) Ordinance of 1982, some of the local pharmaceutical companies improved range and quality of their products considerably. The national companies account for more than 65% of the pharmaceutical business in Bangladesh. However, among the top 20 companies of Bangladesh 6 are multinationals. Almost all the life saving imported products and new innovative molecules are channelled into and marketed in Bangladesh through these companies. Multinational and large national companies generally follow current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) including rigorous quality control of their products. The Drug Act of 1940 and its rules formed the basis of the country’s drug legislation. Unani, ayurvedic, homeopathic and biochemic medicines were exempted from control under the legislation. The pharmaceutical industry was dominated by the foreign companies at that time. Even in the allopathic market there were extemporaneous preparations dispensed from retail pharmacies.

The pharmaceutical industry, however, like all other sectors in Bangladesh, was much neglected during Pakistan regime. Most multinational companies had their production facilities in West Pakistan. With the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, the country inherited a poor base of pharmaceutical industry. For several years after liberation, the government could not increase budgetary allocations for the health sector. Millions of people had little access to essential life saving medicines. With the promulgation of the Drug (Control) Ordinance of 1982 many medicinal products considered harmful, useless or unnecessary got removed from the market allowing availability of essential drugs to increase at all levels of the healthcare system. Increased competition helped maintain prices of selected essential drugs at the minimum and affordable level.

In 1981, there were 166 licensed pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country, but local production was dominated by eight multinational companies (MNCs) which manufactured about 75% of the products. There were 25 medium sized local companies which manufactured 15% of the products and the remaining 10% were produced by other 133 small local companies. All these companies were mainly engaged in formulation out of imported raw materials involving an expenditure of Tk 600 million in foreign exchange. In spite of having 166 local pharmaceutical production units, the country had to spend nearly Tk 300 million on importing finished medicinal products. A positive impact of the Drug (Control) Ordinance of 1982 was that the limited available foreign currency was exclusively utilized for import of pharmaceutical raw materials and finished drugs, which are not produced in the country. The value of locally produced medicines rose from Tk 1.1 billion in 1981 to Tk 16.9 billion in 1999. At present, 95% of the total demand of medicinal products is met by local production. Local companies (LCs) increased their share from 25% to 70% on total annual production between 1981 and 2000.

In 2000, there were 210 licensed allopathic drug-manufacturing units in the country, out of which only 173 were on active production; others were either closed down on their own or suspended by the licensing authority for drugs due to non compliance to GMP or drug laws. They manufactured about 5,600 brands of medicines in different dosage forms. There were, however, 1,495 wholesale drug license holders and about 37,700 retail drug license holders in Bangladesh. Anti-infective is the largest therapeutic class of locally produced medicinal products, distantly followed by antacids and anti-ulcerants.

And in 2008, there are around 250 licensed pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh and many are under processing.

The annual per capita drug consumption in Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world. However, the industry has been a key contributor to the Bangladesh economy since independence. With the development of healthcare infrastructure and increase of health awareness and the purchasing capacity of people, this industry is expected to grow at a higher rate in future. Healthy growth is likely to encourage the pharmaceutical companies to introduce newer drugs and newer research products, while at the same time maintaining a healthy competitiveness in respect of the most essential drugs. [A K M Shamsuddin and K M A Humayun Hye]

Bangladesh Health Sector

Healthcare Pharmaceutical Limited

Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited (HPL) has established a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, located at Rejendrapur under Gazipur district 45 km north of Dhaka city.

The plant has been designed, built and validated by the managers and consultant of HPL with active support of Roche technical experts from Basel, Switzerland. The plant complies to the zone concept of Good Manufacturing Practices.

FORMULATION UNIT

The production building has three levels with the facilities segregated to comply to the GMP requiements and more particularly to ensure separation of HVAC Zones.

DISTRIBUTION

The distribution services are provided by Healthcare Distribution Company (HDC), a sister-concern of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited. HDC maintains a large distribution network of 13 depots throughout the country.

Company Profile

Healthcare started its operation in 1988 through establishing a company named Healthcare Distribution Limited in association with Roche Bangladesh Limited. It was responsible for import and distribution of pharmaceutical products to the local market. Until 2001 its business was based on import of Roche products from Switzerland and USA.

Later on in 1996 Healthcare decided to establish its own pharmaceutical plant named Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited (HPL) to produce the products those are imported from Roche, Switzerland as well as other local generics. Accordingly, an agreement was signed with F Hoff Mann La Roche of Switzerland to produce their products locally under toll manufacturing agreement. As a consequence, a state of the art plant is designed, built and validated with technical support from F Hoff Mann La Roche, Switzerland.

As per Drug Regulation of Bangladesh license manufacturing is allowed only for such companies who have their own plant in Bangladesh. In order to comply with the regulation Roche, Switzerland built another small plant, named Roche Bangladesh Limited (RBL) in the same premises to produce only one product and they under licensed all other products to HPL.

Zone concept of Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) is meticulously implemented in the site. Design, Qualification, Operation and Documentation are as per cGMP requirement. WHO approved Quality System and Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) system has been implemented in the site. From the very beginning Roche, Switzerland provided active technical and advisory support.

Both the plants went to commercial production in the year 2002 after complete validation of plant, utilities, equipment and processes. The plants were audited by the auditors of Roche, Switzerland before start up of production. Production started with 11 Roche products and a few local generics. Gradually the number and volume of local generics increased. Every alternate year the plant was audited for both GMP and EHS by the auditors of Roche, Switzerland.

The tenure of the contract came to an end in December 2006 and RBL handed over their plant to HPL. By this time HPL built a good reputation among the physicians and people of Bangladesh. In the year 2005 we signed and agreement with Novertis (Sandoz) Bangladesh Limited to produce their products in our plant under tool manufacturing agreement. Another agreement was signed with ISIS Foods of Denmark in the year 2006 to produce and supply some nutritional products to EU countries. In the same year we started exporting our products in certain Asian countries in a limited scale.

The plant is operated by highly qualified peoples. Most of them have long experience in multinational pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. The total team is committed for unconditional quality of the products they produce. The team is working with a vision to be a leader and to rank among the very best in each of our activities.

Products

HPL manufactures generic products in different therapeutic class such as antibiotics, cardiovascular agents, antihistamines, antiasthama, antidiabetic agents, antiulcerants, antipsychotic agents, antimigraine, antivirals, vitamins and minerals etc.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The Rise of Pharmaceutical Sector of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh Pharmaceutical sector is one of the most developed hi-tech sector which is contributing in the country’s economy. After the promulgation of Drug Control Ordinance – 1982, the development of this sector was accelerated. The professional knowledge, thoughts and innovative ideas of the pharmacists working in this sector are the key factors for this development. Due to recent development of this sector we are exporing medicines to global market including European market. This sector is also providing 95% of the total medicine requirement of the local market. Leading Pharmaceutical Companies are expanding their business with the aim to expand export market. Recently few new industries have been established with hi-tech equipments and professionals which will enhance the strength of this sector.

Regulatory authorities

Two organizations, one government (Directorate of Drug Administration) and one semi-government (Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh), control pharmacy practice in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Society is affiliated with international organizations International Pharmaceutical Federation and Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association.

Press Release

Source: Research and Markets Ltd.

Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Market Had a Valuation of US$700mn in 2007 and That a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) Of 18.79% through To 2012 Can Be Expected

Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Bangladesh’s pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.

The Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q308 is the most recent addition to BMI’s Industry Survey & Forecasts Series. It integrates data and narrative from market research firms, industry associations and company presentations to provide objective assessment of one of Asia Pacific’s most promising opportunities for drug makers.

We calculate that the country’s pharmaceutical market had a valuation of US$700mn in 2007 and that a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.79% through to 2012 can be expected. This rapid market expansion is primarily due to greater uptake of medicine throughout this densely populated country, but also through appreciation of the data against the US dollar, population growth and increased government healthcare expenditure, among other factors.

Eskayef was best performing company in Bangladesh during Q108, with sales up 21.12% on Q107, according to IMS Health. This compares favourably to the next fastest growing drugmakers: Renata (+16.19%), ACI (+16.17%) and Drug International (+13.79%), Incepta Pharma (+6.77%) and Square Pharma (+2.32%). Not all Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies performed so well. Beximco Pharma witnessed a huge 42.04% drop in sales, while Acme recorded a 4.89% decrease.

The greatest challenge facing the industry is the end of the patent-free regime in 2016, when local pharmaceutical companies will have to cease the production, distribution and sale of medicine that have intellectual property protection elsewhere in the world. Forward thinking local drug makers will have to adapt their product portfolio as necessary or suffer a steep drop-off in sales. However, the global ‘patent cliff’ in 2011 will mitigate this watershed.

National Drug Policy May 5, 2005 MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE Public Health Section-1. NOTIFICATION Dated, the 18 April, 2005 No. Public Health-1/Drug-22/2004/154-Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has promulgated the following “National Drug Policy 2005” which is duly approved by the Cabinet

Policy Areas

1. Laws and regulations

Relevant Laws and Regulations commensurate with the prevailing circumstances usually control and regulate production, distribution, sale and use of drugs in a country and ensure that they are of good quality, efficacious and safe. Currently the Drugs Act, 1940 of (XXIII of 1940) and the Drugs (Control) Ordinance l982 (Ordinance No. VIII of 1982 regulate the process of registration, manufacture, distribution, sale, import and export of drugs in Bangladesh. These drug regulatory legal instruments of the country are now quite old. They should be updated through necessary amendments to keep pace with newer developments in the drug sector. Similarly the Rules made under the above Act and Ordinance should also be updated and integrated into one set of Rules.

If the functioning of these laws regulations and their compatibility with other laws, either under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare or other Ministries and Departments, affect implementation all the different aspects of the NOR. they should be amended accordingly.

2. Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA)

A strong administrative set-up is essential for effective management of the various aspects of the drug sector of a country. The Directorate of Drug Administration of Bangladesh has a very limited number of qualified technical personnel and totally insufficient infra-structure facilities to effectively perform the various functions of the regulatory authority.

Strengthening of the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA):

The following measures should be taken for the strengthening of the DRA:

I. The status of the Directorate of Drug Administration (DDA) should be raised to that of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) with corresponding increase in its manpower and infra-structure facilities.

II. The organogram of the DGDA should accommodate all lawful systems of drugs and

regulate them under unified control.

III. The regulatory responsibilities should he delegated to different Directors under DGDA to expedite and facilitate the functional processes.

IV .The decision-making processes should be guided by the objective, non-discriminatory and transparent guidelines and procedures.

V. The staff of the DGDA should he adequately trained, have clearly defined functions and powers, and be entrusted with responsibility in relation to all aspects of registration, manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, import, export and quality of drugs in order to ensure compliance with the laws, rules and regulations.

3. Drug Registration

All drugs and medicine and other medicinal substances in finished dosage forms, which are manufactured, imported, distributed, marketed or consumed in the country must be registered with the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) of the country in the specific dosage form and strength as recommended by the Drug Control Committee (DCC).

However, the Licensing Authority may allow manufacture of any drug in any dosage form and strength for export purpose only as per the requirements of the importing country.

a) Selection of Drugs for registration

i) Selection of a drug either for manufacture or import is one of the important functions of the National Regulatory Authority (NRA). For this purpose the current system of having a drug registration advisory committee, i.e., the Drug Control Committee (DCC), which comprises of experts and professionals from all lawful systems, should continue.

ii) Quality, safety, efficacy and usefulness should always be the predetermining criteria for approval for sale of a pharmaceutical product.

iii) The Directorate of Drug Administration, in consultation with the experts committee formed by the government, will prepare a list of non-prescription (OTC) drugs that will be updated from time to time.

b) Registration Criteria

i) As a general principle, registration for manufacture, import and sale of combination drugs other than those of Unani, Ayurvedic & other Herbal preparations, vitamins and nutritional preparations should not he allowed in the country.

However, combinations like vitamins, nutritional preparations and other drugs which are therapeutically useful and are registered in the developed countries could be considered for registration.

In case of the Homeopathic system also, registration for manufacture, import and sale of combination medicines shall be allowed according to the principles of Homeopathy.

ii) In case of imported allopathic drugs, the manufacturing site will be inspected for GMP validation by the inspectors of the drug regulatory authority of Bangladesh. The inspections will be scheduled by the DRA and the concerned manufacturers will bear the cost of any such inspection. However, the inspections will not be a bar to the consideration of a new drug application manufactured in a developed country included in the list of the Licensing Authority.

iii) Bioavailability and bioequivalence data will be considered as important criteria for the registration of any imported medicine.

iv) Any Unani, Ayurvedic or other Herbal drugs included in the official formulary of other countries, if considered essential and useful by the National Unani, Ayurvedic & Herbal Formulary Committee, may be granted registration for manufacture and sale in the country. National Unani, Ayurvedic & other Herbal Formulary Committee will be constituted by the government with the experts on Unani, Ayurvedic and Herbal drugs.

v) Registrations for Mother Tinctures. Crude Triturations and 1 X potency of 12 Biochemic medicines will be required but no registration will be required for further potentization of the Homeopathic and Biochemical medicines.

vi) For the registration of Homoeopathic and Biochemic medicines the quality standards, set in the Homeopathic and Biochemic pharmacopoeias accepted in the developed countries, will be followed. Products will be registered by the Licensing Authority (Drugs) based on their safety, quality and usefulness.

vii) Liquid dosage forms of Unani, Ayurvedic and other Herbal drugs that contain up to 5% (v/v) of 96% ethanol may be allowed to be registered. If use of such high proportion of ethanol is absolutely needed for their better efficacy and keeping quality. However, in exceptional cases, use of ethanol up to a maximum volume of 10% (v/v) may he allowed, if recommended by the DCC.

viii) Certain drugs, in spite of their known serious side-effects and possibility of being misused may be registered for import, production and sale in limited quantities for restricted use.

C) Registration Procedure:

The current procedures adopted for registration of drugs of all the recognized systems. as specified in the existing laws, should Continue alter modifying or upgrading them as appropriate. But efforts should be made to develop methods for expediting the process of registration.

4. Drug production

ii) One of the main objectives of the NDP is to produce good quality drugs in the country. The current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) guidelines of WHO should thus be strictly followed in the manufacture of drugs in the country. In order to ensure strict compliance with the requirements of cGMP, all drug production units should be subject to regular inspection by the Inspectors of the Directorate of Drug Administration. The manufacturers will also be expected to conduct periodic internal cGMP audit following the standard check list of the Directorate of Drug Administration.

iii) Another main objective of the NDP is to ensure self-sufficiency in all types of drugs. Therefore, all necessary measures should be undertaken to ensure that the current trend of increased rate of local production of drugs is sustained and further improved.

iv) Priority should be given to production of adequate quantity of essential drugs. Efforts would be made to ensure that all the essential drugs and non-prescription (OTC) drugs (lists of which are appended to this policy) are manufactured in the county in sufficient quantities and they are available at affordable prices.

v) Foreign and multinational company’s will be allowed to invest and manufacture drugs in Bangladesh as long as they have at least three of their original research product drugs registered in at least two of the following countries: USA, UK, Switzerland, Germany, France, Japan and Australia.

v) Manufacture of drugs that are not included in the last five editions of the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) or United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) or International Pharmacopoeia (IP) or the British Pharmaceutical Codex (B PC); or in the WHO lists of the International Non—proprietary Names (INN), will be prohibited.

vi) In order to encourage transfer of technology and availability of the newly developed drugs, foreign companies, with or without having manufacturing plants in Bangladesh will be allowed to manufacture drugs in the country under licensing agreements with any partners of their choice if the drug in the same brand name is registered and marketed in at least two of the following developed countries: USA. UK, Switzerland. Germany, France. Japan and Australia.

vii) Only for marketing outside Bangladesh, foreign companies without having manufacturing units in Bangladesh will be allowed to manufacture drugs in the country under toll/licensing agreement with any partner of their choice.

viii) The task of producing Unani, Ayurvedic and other Herbal drugs will lie solely with national manufacturers with a view to attaining self-sufficiency in respect of local resource based drugs.

ix) Both local and foreign companies having manufacturing plants in Bangladesh will be allowed to manufacture drugs under toll/contract manufacturing arrangements at any other manufacturing plants of their choice.

x) For the purpose of export only, any drug may be allowed to be produced in the country in accordance with the specific requirements of the importing country.

5. Drug Procurement

ii) Drugs and pharmaceuticals may be procured by government by local purchase or import, and by receiving as donation or gift. Under registered drugs and pharmaceuticals should be avoided in case of import, donation and gift received by the Government in emergency situation. However, in emergency situation these types of drugs and pharmaceuticals can be received with the prior approval of DGDA.

iii) Drugs for personal use of individual patients or to meet any national emergency situation or for the purpose of research and clinical trials or for any other specific use, which are not registered, may be imported with prior approval of the Licensing Authority (Drugs) for specific quantity and for non commercial purpose.

iii) All procurements by the public sector should normally be made directly from the manufacturers through open tenders in generic names.

*iv)To reduce dependence on imported drugs, the local pharmaceutical manufacturers will be offered necessary cooperation to produce quality medicines in adequate quantities. The drugs registered for import in Bangladesh may be imported subject to prior approval of the Drug Regulatory Authority. The recently innovated life-saving drugs will be preferred while considering registration of drugs for import. The application for registration of a drug for import will be taken into consideration only if the drug is registered under the same brand name in at least one of the following developed countries

:USA, UK, Switzerland, German, France, Japan and Australia.

*v) To reduce the cost of procurement of drugs produced locally, the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients will be encouraged through offering various facilities including setting up of a dedicated industrial park.

*vi) To encourage transfer of technology the foreign investors will be encouraged to produce locally the active pharmaceutical ingredients of their innovative life saving drugs.

6. Drug Distribution, Sale and Storage

Prompt and safe distribution and ethical sale of drugs from public/private storage Facilities to the end should be ensured so that the quality of the products is maintained throughout the whole process and good quality essential drugs are always as available to those who need them.

i) Only the drugs, which are registered in Bangladesh should be allowed to be distributed and sold in the country.

ii) No person without having professional qualification or holding valid profession licence should be allowed to stock, distribute or sell drugs and medicines.

iii) No drugs or medicines, other than non-prescription (OTC) drugs, should be sold or dispensed without prescriptions.

iv) Maintenance of quality and safety of drugs in retail outlets and in storage should be ensured by currying out regular checks by Inspectors of drugs on the quality of stored drugs at all levels.

7. Drug Pricing

i) Rational pricing of drugs should be ensured to make essential drugs available to the end-users at affordable prices.

ii) The current system of controlling prices of commonly used essential drugs should be continued and the existing list of the price-controlled drugs should be updated in the light of current pattern of changes of drugs used in the primary healthcare.

iii) existing system of linking prices of the aforesaid locally produced drugs with costs of raw and packing materials and that of imported finished drugs with landed cost should he revised for rational fixing of Maximum Retail Prices ( MRP) of drugs.

8. Quality Assurance of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals

One of the most important objectives of the NDP is to make good quality drugs available at affordable prices. In order to achieve this objective, quality building in a drug at the manufacturing stage by in-process quality control and quality keeping in the drug in transit and storage should be ensured by testing it at different stages before it reaches the end-users.

* As amended by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on 19th May 2005

(Bangladesh Gazette notification dated, 23 June 2005)

I. Each pharmaceutical company should have a quality control and quality assurance system, which would monitor the entire process from the acquisition of raw material to its conversion into a finished product.

II. Each manufacturer should have a dedicated team of professionals or adequate product and process design and statistical control of the process through in-process and end-product testing.

III. There should be documented Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) based on WHO recommended cGMP guidelines for manufacture of each product as well as for each manufacturing unit process.

IV. All the unit process should be periodically validated to ensure correct end-results. The validation results should be properly documented.

V. Qualified professionals related to pharmaceutical sciences should be employed in all the relevant departments, related to quality control and quality assurance, of a manufacturing plant following the guidelines of WHO in order to ensure production of good quality drugs.

VI. Quality of marketed drugs should be ensured by frequent post-market surveillance by the Drug Inspectors and testing random samples of the marketed drugs in the Quality Control laboratories.

VII. In addition to the QC laboratories of the companies there should be one Central Drug Testing/Quality Control Laboratory and a number of’ Regional Drug Testing/Quality Control Laboratories under the Directorate of Drug Administration with separate units for Unani, Ayurvedic, herbal and homeopathic-hiochemic drugs, manned by technical experts of the respective disciplines.

9. Manpower of the Manufacturing Units

i) All manufacturing units should be staffed with adequate number of Professionals related to Pharmaceutical sciences in accordance with WHO guidelines in order to produce good quality, safe and effective drugs and pharmaceuticals.

However, the unani, ayurvedic, herbal and homeopathic-biochemic drug manufacturing units should be staffed with adequate number of Qualified persons of the respective disciplines and, where necessary, pharmacists, chemists/ biochemists, and botanists.

ii) Persons with relevant qualifications should be employed in the various departments of the manufacturing units following the guidelines of WHO and strictly following the relevant laws of the country.

iii) Adequate number of other supporting trained and skilled technical personnel should be employed for smooth functioning of the manufacturing plant.

10. Drug Information and Monitoring

i) The Directorate of Drug Administration should have a well-equipped Drug monitoring and information Unit.

ii) Data on production, import, export, procurement storage, distribution and sale should be compiled, monitored and evaluated to ensure availability of drugs at all levels of the country’s health care facilities both in public and private sectors.

iii) Safety, efficacy and quality of all registered drugs should be monitored regularly and information on any substandard, spurious and counterfeit drugs should be made freely available to all concerns by wide publicity in both print and electronic media.

iv) Rational use of drugs (RUD) should be ensured by conducting surveys on the systems of prescribing, dispensing and patient compliance.

v) Monitoring and reporting of adverse reactions of drugs (ADR) should be seriously done to ensure safe and rational use of drugs in the country.

vi) Objective and educational advertisements of Non-prescription (OTC) drugs based on scientifically established evidence and in good taste may be allowed with prior approval of the Drug Regulatory Authority, (current lists of OTC drugs of allopathic, ayurvedic and unani systems are appended to this Policy).

11. Essential Drugs

iv) There shall be an Essential Drug List for Bangladesh. The Directorate of Drug Administration, in consultation with the experts committee formed by the government, shall update from time to time and maintain the list of essential drugs in line with the current list of Essential Drugs of the World Health Organization.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

l Quantitative analysis of pharmaceuticals business in Bangladesh and our own organization

l To find out prospect of pharmaceutical business in Bangladesh

l For the partial fulfillment of EMBA

METHODOLOGY

Firstly, we collected the necessary information to prepare the term paper from various sources like review article, journal, newspaper, press release, bulletin etc. The data were collected from IMS 2Q, 2008 and software used in Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited.

On the basis of information collected we assessed the pharmaceuticals market in Bangladesh and the business progression of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

ANALYSIS

Top 30 Pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh

Top 100 Brands with their Manufacturer in Bangladesh

Yearly Sales Comparison of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited

one month extrapolated sales

Top 20 Brands Sale of Healthcare in 2008

FINDINGS

Among the 250 licensed pharmaceuticals 30 top most pharmaceuticals enjoy almost 80% of the pharmaceuticals business in Bangladesh. Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited, my organization was ranked 16 as per the IMS 2Q, 2008 data.

It was found that 27 brands of Square Pharmaceuticals were in top 100 revenue earning products. 10 brands of Beximco and 8 brands of Incepta were in the top 100 brands in Bangladesh.

One (1) brand of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited was ranked 27 of those top 100 revenue earning brands.

The yearly sales growth of Healthcare Pharmaceuticals was 79%, 45% and 14% respectively in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

If we compare the sales of 2008 and the sales of top 20 products of Healthcare in that year we can find that almost 77% of total sales come from 20 products. (The total numbers of products are 60)

CONCLUSION

2008 is proving a challenging year for drug makers in Bangladesh. A round of price cuts is scheduled after a hiatus of two years. Sales forces of Bangladeshi drug makers are growing exponentially, which results in significantly higher expenses. The greatest challenge facing the industry is the end of the patent-free regime in 2016, when local pharmaceutical companies will have to cease the production, distribution and sale of medicine that have intellectual property protection elsewhere in the world. Forward thinking local drug makers will have to adapt their product portfolio as necessary or suffer a steep drop-off in sales. However, the global ‘patent cliff’ in 2011 will mitigate this watershed.

REFERENCES

1. www.researchandmarkets.com

2. www.pharmadu.net

3. IMS 2Q, 2008

4. Souvenir, National Pharmaceutical Congress, July, 2006