Impact of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (Api) Scarcity in Pharmaceutical Sectors Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was characterized as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The present pandemic has caused an intolerable impact on the health structure as well as the pharmaceutical sector, which in ultimatum has created enormous issues in the everyday lives of the patient community. On the other hand, the situation may appear in short and long-term time-horizon and need identification along with appropriate planning to reduce their socio-economic burden. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world's third-largest drug producer by volume. India supplies affordable and low-cost generic drugs to millions of people around the globe and operates more than 250 United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and United Kingdom Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA) approved plants. Given the Indian pharmaceutical industry, the source of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) for multiple diseases is much crucial part of the Pharma industry’s strategic plan to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. China is the top global producer and exporter of APIs by volume and Indian pharmaceutical industries are also rely heavily on APIs from China for the production of their medicine formulations by importing around 70 percent of the total requirement. However, the present pandemic situation has exposed the world's over-reliance on China in terms of API import and bound world leaders to fig. out sustainable alternatives.

Indian Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Industry- An overview on Challenges, Opportunities & Regulatory prerequisites

“…Pharmaceutical organizations and the government of India showed concerned about the uncertainty of the Indian pharmaceutical supply chain as outsourcing from the manufacturing facilities in China are stopped in order to stop the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. (26) This step came with the realization about the extent of dependency on China for various APIs/KSMs and in this emergency situation, this over-dependency brought out the various major negative effects like disruption in supply chain, price hikes or shortage of pharmaceuticals.…”

Analysis of cephalosporins available in India: A pharmacoeconomic perspective

“…High cost of above drugs particularly in post-COVID epidemic era and difficulty in import of parent cephalosporin's Active Principle Ingredients from manufacturing countries like china has paid attention to think and rethink for revising our drug policy to obtain cheapest variety of above drugs. 1,2 Rational use of antibiotics not only involves prescribing a medicine to completely eradicate the infection, it involves intelligent use to keep vision on drug sensitivity, proper duration of therapy to prevent resistance, and also at an affordable cost since acceptance of the treatment by patients depends completely on its cost. Improvement on acceptance can reduce the total health-care cost involved in the management of a particular infection.…”