COVID CRISIS-A DISGUISED BLESSING FOR INDIAN PHARMA INDUSTRY!

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”-Winston Churchill

“Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” Taking that to the heart seems to be the road ahead for India’s pharmaceutical industry.COVID-19 has lead the industry into crisis mode, but it could just be the rude wake-up call for a silver lining in the dark and ominous COVID-19 cloud.

India’s pharmaceutical exports stood at $17.27 billion in 2018 and grew to $19.14 billion in 2019. The country’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to expand by 22.4% over 2015–20 to reach $55 billion. COVID crisis brought an apprehension about the pharma economy but it actually paved the way to leapfrog into the future. India’s Serum institute struck an agreement with AstraZeneca to manufacture 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine being developed by Oxford University. This has  lead the company’s wealth to grow the fastest, at $15 billion, among Indian billionaires and fifth fastest in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global crisis is potentially a blockbuster for the industry in terms of sales and profits. Cipla’s share price jumped almost 3% after the country's drug regulator approved Hetero and Cipla to manufacture and market antiviral drug remdesivir.

Also, Glenmark being knocked down in economy surged 40% in trade after the launch of drug favipiravir. There are chances of Glenmark's share to skyrocket once the clinical efficacy of drug favipiravir is established.

In view of the humanitarian aspects of the pandemic, India’s decision to lift the ban of paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and supply to the neighbouring countries have upped medical diplomacy and made India the shining star in tackling the pandemic. This is also one of the reasons for the increase in the share of the pharma industry.

India has been a cradle of inventions throughout its glorious history and this will remain the same in the COVID 19 crisis.  IIT Delhi and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has discovered that an ayurvedic herb Ashwagandha can be an effective therapeutic and preventive drug against the COVID 19 infection.

Corona crisis in Indian Pharma caused a shortage of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) due to dependency on China for their imports. But this has made India to increase their own production and become self-reliant. As the saying goes that “There is light at the end of every tunnel”, every crisis brings its own set of opportunities, COVID-19 is a wake-up call for India and if India plays its part well, we have an opportunity to become the alternate manufacturing location to China and The Pharmacy to the world. 

Miss. Sulaikha Abdul Kareem 3rd Pharm.D