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Indian mission in Madrid seeks inputs from exporters to boost pharma export to Spain
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Laxmi Yadav, Mumbai
August 31 , 2021
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In a bid to boost India’s pharmaceutical export to Spain, Indian mission in Madrid has sought inputs from the drug manufacturers exporting to the European country.
The Indian mission in Spain has taken steps following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for achieving an export target of US$ 400 billion and a target of US$ 29.2 billion for pharmaceuticals.
The mission has prepared a survey to understand and analyze India’s exports to Spain. Drug exporters have been requested to participate and share their inputs including measures to improve export to the European country.
The valuable inputs provided by the exporters will be taken up during forthcoming meetings on the pharmaceutical sector and will help formulate the exports promotion strategy of pharmaceutical exports from India, said Uday Bhaskar, director general, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil).
He said the initiative taken by the Indian mission in Madrid can be seen in a direction to achieve the pharma export target of US$ 29. 2 billion.
At an interactive meeting held by the department of commerce on August 6, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Indian missions abroad, export promotion councils, trade promotion agencies and the stakeholders to take steps to achieve an export target of US$ 400 billion and a target of US$ 29.2 billion for pharmaceuticals.
As a way forward to the discussions during the meeting, the Indian mission in Madrid (Spain) has prepared a survey to understand and analyze India’s exports to Spain. It asked Pharmexcil to get feedback from its members exporting to Spain.
The Spanish pharmaceutical market is among the top 20 in the world. Spain's regulatory environment, based on EU directives, is more transparent than some of its European peers, notably in Eastern Europe.
Indian pharma exports to Spain have increased over the years. India exported pharmaceuticals worth US$ 171.30 million to Spain in fiscal 2018-19 as against US$ 141.45 million in fiscal 2017-18. India’s export to the European country stood at US$ 124.08 million in fiscal 2016-17.
In spite of the local generic market having grown only 1.14 per cent in 2019, India’s generic exports have grown over 18 per cent.
Indian companies- Dr. Reddy’s & Ranbaxy have significant presence. The former has collaboration with Spanish company Pharma Iberia while the latter has acquired some generics earlier marketed by a Spanish company named Efarmes. Vivimed Labs has a wholly owned subsidiary in Uquifa, an API manufacturer.
High preference for branded medicines and investments in R&D has seen the Spanish pharmaceutical market recover from the negative effects of the government's austerity package that focuses heavily on the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
In 2019, pharmaceutical spending in Spain (both pharmacy and hospital spending in consumer price terms) reached a value of US$ 30.2 billion, representing 24.4 per cent of total health expenditure.
As the percentage of the population over 65 years is rising, Spain being a highly developed country, demand for non-communicable diseases is on the rise (conditions like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and central nervous system diseases). This gives ample opportunities to companies with these product portfolios, said director general, Pharmexcil.
As with other markets in Western Europe, high-value, innovative medicines account for the majority of Spain's pharmaceutical market, with patented drugs comprising 81 per cent of the total in 2019 at a value of US$ 24.45 billion; generic drugs accounted for a low 14.3 per cent of the market and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines accounted for just 4.7 per cent of the market.
The potential for generic medicines market growth is high, as the generic’s penetration is much less among comparable Western Europe’s market. High level of the pensionable population indicates strong potential for chronic and long term treatment. In fact this section of population is one of the drivers of pharmaceuticals consumption, said Bhaskar.
Highlighting the impact of an ageing population on Spain's demands for pharmaceuticals and healthcare, data published by industry association Farmaindustria showed that the correlation between the elderly population (over 65 years old) and the prescription demand per capita is positive and high. While this is positive for innovative drug makers whose product portfolios contain therapeutics for the treatments of non-communicable diseases - such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric conditions - tight budgets for welfare spending will create an increasingly tough environment for these drug makers.
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