Pharmaceutical export booms in pandemic

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has appeared as a boom for the country’s drug makers as they have exported a record $169 million worth of medicines in the fiscal year ended on June 30.

In addition to export of generic medicines, Remdesivir played a key role to boost the export. Remdesivir has been approved for emergency use to treat COVID-19 in some countries.

“We could have exported more if we had enough capacity. There were a lot of demands from many countries, but we had not fulfilled their demands,” Beacon Pharmaceuticals Managing Director Ebadul Karim told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

“There is a huge demand for Remdesivir injections in Latin America and East European countries. The export of medicines from Bangladesh to these countries has increased a lot. Besides, there was a lot of demand in India till last May.”

Bangladesh exported medicines worth $135.79 million in 2019-20, $130 million in 2018-19, and $103.5 million in 2017-18, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.

Bangladesh has more than 269 small and large pharmaceutical plants, meeting 98 percent of the country’s total demand for the medicines, according to the Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Industry Association.

In the last three years, the association received approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration for exporting 1,200 types of medicines.

The allopathic medicine manufacturers produce 24,000 types of medicines and medicinal raw materials annually, according to the DGDA.