jrnls.org logo
Submit

BROWSE ALL JOURNALS

SEE ALL 19 JOURNALS
Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and ResearchNOW IN
Review

Reduced Pharma Supply Chain in COVID-19: Measures to Reduce India’s Reliance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients on China and other Countries

Narendra Vyas1★, Ankur Joshi1, Sapna Malviya1, Anil Kharia1★ Corresponding author

  1. 1Modern Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA.

CORRESPONDENCE

Narendra Vyas

Modern Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA.

vyasji85@gmail.com

Received: 26-04-2020; Revised: 20-07-2020; Accepted: 25-09-2020.

Volume 54, Issue 4 · pp. 835–842 · PUBLISHED 2020 · DOI: 10.5530/ijper.54.4.175

View on IJPER original site ↗

ABSTRACT

India, which is called the “world of pharmacy” for being a top supplier of medicines in several countries, can depend on other countries for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and other raw materials. Although India is one of the major suppliers of high-quality medicines in several countries, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly dependent on China and other countries in terms of raw materials (including the production of essential medicines such as Crocin). These raw materials are called Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), also known as loose drugs. Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers import medicines from China and other countries/regions to account for about 70% of total medicine demand. This article sheds light on the important question of how India depends on other countries to obtain API and other raw materials. Also, the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain of bulk drugs, which indirectly affects the pharmaceutical manufacturers. The article concludes that this is the right time for India to remove the dependencies for bulk drugs on china and other countries and start producing their own API in the country itself. COVID-19 situation provides India an opportunity to become a preferred alternate hub for manufacturing APIs and intermediates.

KEYWORDS

Open in new tab

REFERENCES

As published

Showing references and in-text citations exactly as published.

    Cite this article

    SELECT FORMAT

    Vyas, N., Joshi, A., Malviya, S., & Kharia, A. (2020). Reduced Pharma Supply Chain in COVID-19: Measures to Reduce India’s Reliance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients on China and other Countries. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, 54(4), 835–842. https://doi.org/10.5530/ijper.54.4.175