PRESENT SCENARIO AND ITS EMPOWERMENT
It is observed that from Kerala, a large number of marketing agencies are engaged in Contract manufacturing of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals outside the State. The northern States like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat and Rajasthan are the major of the products sold Quality in Kerala through these Agencies. The drugs are manufactured in GMP complied units with accreditations for exports from the CDSCO. The quality and stability are ensured at the time of manufacturing through Control Laboratories approved by CDSCO for that purpose. The Agencies can manufacture drugs at the desired quantities strengths, packings, prices and by using Raw materials of their choice with ease in a less regulated: atmosphere. The marketing firms will get additional endorsement of new products at their desired strengths and dosage forms at the least possible time frame from the Regulatory mechanism and thereby can save time and money. The Northern states with Pharma Clusters had developed a culture giving superior priority to Pharmaceutical Industries engaged in exports and contract manufacturing and will clear the applications without much queries. They will protect the manufacturers of their State in a contingency and will do all possible help for promoting their products. This protection from the regulators had created a positive atmosphere for marketing firms to obtain drugs from that States with confidence.
In Kerala, even the SSI units are relying many units in North India for product addition because of this ease of endorsing additional products. The availability of Raw materials and other additives in Northern states also contributes to the selection of such firms for Contract manufacturing.
In Kerala, very few Pharmaceutical manufacturing units are offering Contract manufacturing for marketing agencies. The major constraints are the delay in endorsing the new products requested by the agencies and the lack of adequate infrastructure for production of the quantity required. The Price factor is usually a hurdle but when considering the transportation costs and the related stability changes, it is not considered as a major issue for the Agencies. The conventional manufacturers are not promoting the Agencies for a parallel marketing of their products as a general policy. The lack of testing facilities of new drugs in stand alone Drugs Testing Laboratories in Kerala also contribute much to the introduction of new 111 products by the marketing firms. The cost of labor in Kerala is very high compared to north Indian units. Due to the non availability of Pharma clusters in an Industrial areas like Kalamassery, Kanjikkode, Koratty and Kazhakkoottam, the technology upgradation and other R&D works will cost more. There is also non availability of essential Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Pharmaceutical aids in the Industrial areas in Kerala.
We are manufacturing a variety of speciality Products in Pharmaceutical, Surgical and Medical devices category in Kerala with International quality .But there is no further developments in this field and they are transferring the new units to nearby states due to the lack of promotional packages from the Government. Examples are M/s Arjuna Natural Extracts, Dynamic Ortho Medicals, HLL lifecare etc. many ayurvedic drugs manufacturing units also are starting new units in other states because of many: regulatory issues. The units like Agappe Diagnostics, Terumo penpol Limited, TTK Heart valve Division etc are still going with the current facilities. Many units including Vysali Pharmaceuticals, HLL lifecare, Kodi healthcare, Ivelinks, Sangrose Laboratories limited, Ubio Technologies, Med ventures etc are facing many problems in domestic marketing though they are having best quality products.
It is high time to initiate some urgent remedial steps to empower the Manufacturing units in Kerala by giving some promotional packages to compete with the north Indian pharmaceutical giants, for survival.
