The department of pharma is planning to set up Indian pharmacy chains in Nigeria to combat the damage that China-made fake drugs with ?made in India? labels have caused on theimage and credibility of the Indian pharma industry.
The negotiations for the model with the Nigerian government would start in a few days as a Nigerian delegation will arrive.
By creating the model of Indian pharmacy chain, the government will send a message about the credibility of branded Indian generics to the African countries, some of which already have or are in the process of formulating policies against generic drugs, confusing them with counterfeit drugs. Countries like Kenya and Uganda have factored in patent issues while setting up parametres for defining ‘counterfeit drugs’.
“The pharmacy chains by reputed Indian players in Nigeria would restore eroded confidence. The supply chain would become transparent and scope of unaccountability in any link of the operational chain would be minimised. It will help in strengthening ‘brand India’, which has taken a beating lately, due to mispropaganda and ignorance? said a source in the know.
The commercial feasibility and the political inclination of Nigerian government regarding such a project is yet to be analysed. In the initial form, the project broadly entails partnership of Indian pharmacies with their Nigerian counterparts. A senior executive in a pharma company with presence in Nigeria said, “It sounds fine as an image-building exercise but Indian players cannot be the only distributors and retail points selling Indian generics in Nigeria. Alternate distribution channels will always exist. Hence, a window for misusing the ‘made in India’ tag still remains open. The initiative is a good step but is far from a fool-proof method.”
Experts think that instead of setting up end-points in form of pharmacies, if Indian generic players set up subsidiaries to carry out distribution or tie-up only with reputed Nigerian distributors, it would help in creating safe channels. “First, one has to analyse whether the economics work out for Indian players. On the other hand, Nigerian law doesn’t seem very conducive for setting up businesses,” said Hitesh Gajaria, executive director, KPMG.
Based on the experience of how such a model fairs in Nigeria, the government may later plan to replicate it in other African countries. In June, Nigeria’s National Agency for food and drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) had seized a large consignment of fake anti-malaria drugs produced in China, with a ‘Made in India’ label. Subsequently, the director-general of NAFDAC, Paul Orhii had visited India and met government officials and industry stakeholders. China had tendered a formal apology to Nigeria for the fake drugs labelled ‘Made in India’ by some Chinese companies exported to the country and assured to take punitive action against those involved in the scandal, according to international reports.