Argentina To Allow Finished Pharmaceutical Exports From India
By Lori Clapper
The Argentinian government announced last week it will now allow finished pharmaceutical exports from Indian drug makers. Up until now, Argentina, which currently houses a $6-billion drug market, had only permitted imports of raw materials, not finished pharmaceuticals, from Indian firms due to local regulations.
India ships almost $15 billion in drugs overseas each year, but only eight percent of that is to Latin American countries, the Economic Times reported.
"Our companies can supply generic drugs at nearly half the price of Argentina's locally made drugs, enabling the Latin American country to procure quality drugs at affordable costs,” PV Appaji, director general of Indian Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council, said. He added that this new access to one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in Latin American will certainly boost exports of globally-approved manufacturing facilities in India.
But even though this move should prove to have a positive impact on the Indian pharma industry, it will take time and a whole lot of patience on the part of drug makers to see a return on investment. For example, it currently takes 24 to 30 months in Mexico and four to seven years in Brazil for product registrations and approvals.
“We need to wait for the kind of regulations Argentina will come out with and the time it would consume for product registrations,” Arvind Vasudeva, Aurobindo Pharma's formulations business chief, told the Economic Times. Aurobindo already exports to Brazil, Mexico, and Columbia.
Motilal Oswal pharma analyst Alok Dalal commented that companies like Torrent Pharma and Glenmark Pharma, which currently operate in Brazil, should definitely explore the possibilities in Argentina.
By 2020, Argentina's pharmaceuticals market is estimated to reach $15 billion. And presently, eight key Latin American markets are valued at over $30 billion, reporting a compound annual growth rate of over 10 percent.