India to help African pharma industry

Wednesday, 05 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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JOHANNESBURG: The Indian pharmaceutical industry has extended a hand of friendship to countries in southern Africa to help nurture the industry here as well as canvass support to have commitments made at Doha implemented. A three-member delegation from India comprising D.G. Shah, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Sharad Gupta, joint secretary in the department of chemicals and petrochemicals; and Manoj Joshi, deputy secretary in the commerce ministry, Tuesday ended two days of discussion with South African government officials and private sector pharmaceutical companies. The delegation came here from Kenya and Uganda and will also visit Zimbabwe before returning to India. "We had very good meetings in all three countries so far because we share the same concerns which India has," Shah told IANS. "Today the developed world is going back on commitments made in Doha for public health. Apparently this is because of pressure from the pharmaceutical industry. "This is a matter of great concern for all countries in the developing world, particularly those in the South, and we are trying to develop a South-South coalition so that we can work together with Brazil, China and represent our case together at the TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Council to prevent erosion of what was already given in the Doha declaration." Shah said this was one of the primary objectives of their visit, while the second was to share the details of an offer made by the Indian pharmaceutical industry to African countries. "The industry, not the government, has made an offer to African countries here. Since development of capability is not being done by the developed world, we have offered two things in terms of health and infrastructure. "One, we will provide financial aid for African students to pursue medical education in India. Secondly, we want to provide opportunities for qualified chemists to work in our plants so that when the pharmaceutical industry develops here, and when investors come, you will have suitable manpower here. This is to demonstrate that we are really working to develop indigenous capabilities." Shah said this plan was well received in all the countries they had been to. Vikash Salig, responsible for the African arm of South African firm Hetero Drugs, said it was a bit early to tell what the impact of the Indian team's talks with South African stakeholders would be in terms of the TRIPS agreement. "The general trend seems to be that developing countries are a bit concerned about the stance of the U.S." Salig said India holds a lot of opportunities in pharmaceutical fields for Africa. "Clearly India is becoming very quickly regarded as the leaders in the generic pharmaceutical industry in the world. As we know, generics are a lot less expensive than the patent-protected modules, so the areas where this would have an impact in Africa is where we have serious epidemics like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and so on. "Ideally we would like to get the lowest cost product in with the widest access." Salig said India's very strong research and development and manufacturing base could help South Africa leverage off that to develop capacity at home. Allison Vienings, director of regulatory affairs at Medicines Control Consultants, told IANS that like many overseas firms, the regulatory environment in South Africa had also been a stumbling block for India in the past. "But I think that has now been overcome. When I first started dealing with Indian companies, it was maybe a few years too early. But I think the time now is very right for them," said Vienings, whose company has some of the major drug firms from India on its books, including Cipla, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy. "I've seen tremendous growth in the pharmaceutical trade with India in recent years, with some products already well known here, while others are only now beginning to market their products aggressively." Vienings said Indian pharmaceuticals had been readily accepted in the South African market. "Without a doubt, there is a great future in South Africa and in fact in Africa as a whole for Indian pharmaceuticals. The accent now is on quality, and the Indian manufacturing plants I have seen in India offer some of the highest standards in the world." With clients from many other countries also represented by her firm, Vienings said China was emerging as India's strongest competitor in South Africa. "Chinese firms are trying to get into the local market, but I think they are now where India was 10 years ago in this regard, so they still have a long way to go."
Source: IANS
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