South Asian pharmaceutical companies to see a growth spurt amid high demand

The growing demand for quality pharmaceutical products is now leading traditional players to cut the cost while expanding their operations across the globe. In the wake of this situation, South Asian pharma companies are slowly emerging as big players by adequately meeting the needs of the global pharma markets. If the growth rate remains steady, the Indian subcontinent, especially Bangladesh, might stand out as the next generation hub for pharma and biotech in the world.

While the traditional pharmaceutical and biotechnology leaders like Japan, Russia and the U.S. have reached a saturation level, newer regions of South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent, are playing a vital role in changing the face of pharma and biotech market across the globe. Today, India and China lead the generics segment.

Global economic recession has forced pharma big shots to cut the cost by outsourcing their research and manufacturing activities. Third world countries like India, China and Bangladesh offer the ideal set up to these MNCs, largely due to low cost of labor and availability of high quality of manpower.

One of the most remarkable success stories among the South Asian countries is that of Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector. Due to the quality products produced by the private sector pharma giant Beximco Pharmaceuticals, the country has grown to be a name of great repute among the pharma and biotech circles around the world. Under the effective leadership of Vice Chairman Salman F Rahman, Beximco Pharma continues to soar to new heights, the recent achievement being the export of three pharma products to the stringent US market.

While India remains the market leader in South Asia, Bangladeshi pharma leaders like Beximco Pharma are giving a tough competition to the well-off neighbor. Though at a nascent stage, Bangladesh has proved time and again that it holds immense potential for the Indian drug manufacturers to tap into. Joining hands would be mutually beneficially for both the nations, since there exists a huge potential for developing trade and economic relations between the two countries.

Industry experts are of the opinion that while India being a host to a well-established pharma segment can assist the Bangladeshi pharma sector to grow, it can also gain a lot from exports, since the country is a big importer of infrastructure and raw materials from India. India can also contribute to Bangladesh’s growth in terms of technology transfer, providing training, imparting knowledge on various related subjects of pharma and biotechnology.

Over the years, India and Bangladesh have taken a number of initiatives to remove invisible trade barriers, such as elimination of tariffs and non-tariff restrictions at the unilateral, bilateral, and regional levels. India has become Bangladesh’s largest trading partner in South Asia. Together, both the countries hold strong prospects to emerge as global pharmaceutical leaders in the near future.