Impact Of Rising US Dollar On Medicine Prices In India

In recent months declining rupee has fueled fears of further weakness in India’s economy especially sectors dependent on huge imports like metal, oil, consumer durables and also healthcare industry.  Albeit India is considered as ‘World’s Pharmacy’ due to its dominance in production of quality generic drugs and their exports to almost all the nations including organizations like WHO and UNESCO among the top importers from India but still there is huge import pharmaceuticals products in India in the form of raw material and also branded or patented medicines.

Medicines in India are not only exported in the form of generic to all the nations but also many Multinational Pharmaceutical companies sell their patent drugs in India. These multinationals have around 35% market share in India. It is worth mentioning the contribution of Indian drug manufactures who produce patent medicines for these Multinational Pharmaceutical companies in India. These Indian houses include large Indian Pharma Companies like Biocon , Lupin , Sun Pharma , Elder, Torrent etc. who manufacture medicines for pharmaceutical companies in India.  But despite this majority of these Multinationals import their patented medicines in India directly from their overseas manufacturing unit. Some of these multinational pharmaceutical companies in India are:

Some of multinational pharmaceutical companies importing patented medicines in India:

• 1.       Allergan
• 2.       Abbott
• 3.       Bristol-Myers-Squib
• 4.       Saofi-Aventis
• 5.       Pfizer
• 6.       Novo-Nordisk
• 7.       MSD
• 8.       Novartis
• 9.       Serdia
• 10.   Bayer Healthcare
• 11.   Teva Healthcare
• 12.   UCB
• 13.   Zimmer
• 14.   Jhonson and Jhonson
• 15.   Glaxo Smithkline
• 16.   Merck
• 17.   Eli Lilly
• 18.   Amgen
• 19.   Boehringer Ingelheim
• 20.   Wyeth

India’s total turnover in pharmaceutical industry during 2008-2012 was recorded nearly $21 billion. Pharmaceutical exports from India contributed $6.23 billion in 2006-07 and US$8.7 billion in 2008-09. And there is considerable rise in the import of branded or patented medicines in India as well. In recent past we have seen sharp appreciation in dollar against rupee which will certainly increase Prices of Medicines in India especially imported by these pharmaceutical companies. Followings are the leading branded medicines imported in India .

• 1.       Inj. Clexane , anti-coagulant manufactured and marketed by Sanofi-Aventis
• 2.       Tab.  Onglyza – Antidiabetic Medicine by Bristol-Myers Squibb
• 3.       Inj. Ristova-By Roche
• 4.       Inj. Orencia – An anti- rheumatoid injection by Bristol-Myers Squibb
• 5.       Inj. Lantus – Antidiabetic Medicine by Sanofi-Aventis
• 6.       Inj. Apidra – Antidiabetic Medicine by Sanofi-Aventis
• 7.       Tab. Viagra – Erectile Dysfunction Medicine By Pfizer
• 8.       Paraplatin – Anti-cancer medicines By Bristol-Myers Squibb
• 9.       Sprycel– Anti-cancer medicines By Bristol-Myers Squibb
• 10.   Baracude – Anti-viral Medicine by Bristol-Myers Squibb

As the rupee is declining very soon we will sharp rise in the prices of these medicines in India. Impact of declining rupee will have very deterrent impact on India’s healthcare as it will increase the cost of spending on essential and quality medicines. The situation may also lead to haggling for medicine prices at local pharmacies in India and hospital pharmacies. In addition to this the cost of various implants will be also higher in coming months as most of the implants like cardiac stunts, artificial knees and pelvis. Costlier implants may impair health of geriatric and emergency patients due to increased cost of knee replacement and pelvic replacement surgery in India.

 On the other hands impact of rising dollar may be in favor of India’s export story of generic medicines as most of the producers of generic medicines in India are expecting bigger import orders from other nations as India will an economical option for the generic importers. Most of these branded imported versions of medicines include high end medicines used in the treatment of cancer , Alzheimer , diabetes , rheumatoid arthritis , schizophrenia , stroke etc. Medical Tourism industry may see a rise as it will be an economical option for overseas patients to seek quality care in India.