India’s Covid-19 drug makers see Chinese raw material prices soar
- Ingredients for drugs like ivermectin that are used to treat disease have risen by 200 to 300 per cent, industry group says
- Products needed to make paracetamol and antibiotics up 30 to 40 per cent, according to industry leaders
Ingredients for paracetamol, which helps reduce fever, and some antibiotics, including Azithromycin, have gone up by 30 to 40 per cent since the start of the second wave, according to the heads of two trade associations.
Ashok Kumar Madan, executive director of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association, said the price of raw materials for drugs used to treat Covid-19, like ivermectin, had risen by as much as 300 per cent.
Demand for such products has surged as new coronavirus infections have risen past 350,000 a day and hospitals have run short of supplies.
While medical equipment has poured in from around the world, India depends on China for most of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) it needs to make drugs used to treat Covid-19 and related health problems.
“India is importing almost 70 per cent of our requirements from China, so when the impact comes it’s basically coming with the APIs from China – it is an increase in the API prices, it’s an increase in the packing material prices, and there are issues that freight prices have gone up, both air and sea,” Madan said.