GSK’s new 2.5 b capacity Paracetamol plant a strong boost to Lanka pharmas – Rishard

Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector will get a new boost when Glaxo Wellcome Ceylon GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) commences the first ever solid pharma production facility by a multinational in the country on 24 April.

“I am given to understand that Glaxo Wellcome will be producing a huge volume of 2.5 billion Panadol brand of Paracetamol tablets annually in its new facility in Moratuwa equipped with the state of the art machinery. I congratulate Glaxo Wellcome on their new initiative,” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen

Minister Bathiudeen said this to the global pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Sri Lanka Expatriate CEO T.S. Dayanand earlier this week in Colombo.  

“This new source of supply will boost our pharma manufacturing sector and will also help stabilise domestic prices. Realising the high dependency of local market on imported products and the need for setting up domestic production, President Mahinda Rajapaksa proposed in September 2011 that steps are necessary to be taken towards pharma imports substitution. I believe that the new plant in Moratuwa will help us moving towards strategic import replacement in our pharma market,” Minister Bathiudeen said.

Sri Lanka’s competitive domestic pharma market is estimated to grow 11 per cent annually. Only six local pharmaceutical manufacturers are already active in Sri Lanka and the shortfall is met by imported products from more than 300 international manufacturers which are currently competing in the domestic market.

The Government spends around $140 million annually on medicines alone. Private sector research showed that among the promising growth segments within the Sri Lankan pharma market are chronic care, cardiovascular, and anti-diabetics segments. The market share of generic drugs also has increased steadily over the past few years, and now represents almost two-thirds of the market.

 According to the Business Monitor International which analyses country risks across 175 countries, the projected expenditure for Lankan pharmaceuticals for 2011 is expected to increase by 15 per cent to $444 million in comparison to $386 million in 2010. Such a high dollar quantum together with rates of increase on annual pharma expenditure demonstrates promise for potential investors in this sector.

Some of the proposals in the 2012 Budget recommended developing the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka as a strategic import replacement enterprise by granting tax holidays for investment in the pharmaceuticals production.

“We are also planning to invest a further $11.2 million (Rs. 1.4 billion) to expand operations in Sri Lanka. We are looking to bring in state of the art technology to Sri Lanka,” revealed T.S. Dayanand to Minister Bathiudeen. “We also view the upcoming special pharmaceutical zone in Kurunegala positively,” Dayanand added.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has already begun preliminary work on developing the country’s first pharmaceutical manufacturing zone by mapping out the first steps in developing the 48 acre (19.4 hectare) land plot which is less than five kilometres from Kurunegala in the North Western province.