Drug law restricts options of getting foreign products

Shamsul Huda | Published: January 20, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Patients are being deprived of getting the newly invented and some life saving research medicines as the national drug ordinance has restricted their options of getting foreign products by barring imports, sources said.
They said these specialised medicines are manufactured locally but in many cases the doctors prescribe the original foreign brands for their full efficacy and action.
A Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Society (BPS) source said in some cases the doctors prescribe foreign drugs though they are locally available.
He said despite availability of life saving drugs locally the physicians prescribe foreign products as most of the local products are not being bioequivalence tested.
He said the physicians are confident of prescribing foreign brands for the critically ill patients as they know those drugs work at optimum level in the human body.
Chief executive of a leading medicine manufacturing company told the FE, "Locally we provide life saving research drugs at affordable costs but many patients prefer costly foreign products."
He said some local companies have invested a vast amount of money in manufacturing high-end drugs and patients are getting the products locally at affordable prices.
The BPS source said to protect local investments and thriving of the domestic pharmaceutical market the government barred import of the products which are being manufactured in the country.
But the amount of such life saving research drugs that should be allowed to be imported is less than 0.5 per cent only, he said.
He said this small amount of newly invented or world's gold standard brand products would not harm the current 97 per cent market share by the local producers.
A Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) official said, "Though under the drug ordinance imports of drugs which are locally produced are restricted, we allow import in some cases considering public health."
He said, "The items we allow are mainly used in treatment for cancer, HIV, diabetes, heart diseases and other critical diseases."
The DGDA official said a good number of life saving drugs are in the import list approved by the drug authority.
He said, "Considering public health we allow the importers to import the medicines from the inventing company or from the main distributing sources to treat the patients suffering from diseases who are in need of vaccines, insulin and other critical medicines."
The BPS source said though in some cases the DGDA allows their import but the amount is small. As a result, in cases of scarcity the patients have to use local products.
He said due to bar on import and in many cases lack of confidence in local products which are not bioequivalence tested, the patients do not have options.
Terming the present situation as "captive situation," he said many patients are forced to use local products though their physicians suggest foreign products for their recovery.
A Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist (BCD) office bearer said, "We cannot meet the demand for foreign products."
He said many physicians prescribe foreign products which are banned for import as well as not available locally as manufacturers stopped their production for different reasons.
The BCD source said in many cases the physicians do not prescribe the local brand so there are demands for such life saving drugs in the market.
He said the big private hospitals in the city prescribe many foreign products, but they have their own "source" of making those available.
The druggist source said in the current restrictions on import of many life-saving and newly-invented modern medicines - specially vaccines, insulin and others - the patients' rights are being violated.
An ICDDRB physician said the manufacturers should conduct bioequivalence tests of their products, initially at least for some life saving products, so that both the patients and physicians would be able to know about efficacy of local drugs.