Amid global shortage of medicines, India ready to export fever drugs to China

Beijing, Dec 22: China's sudden easing of zero-COVID policy in response to widespread protests earlier this month has resulted in widespread medication shortages, as people rush to buy ibuprofen, cold medicines and pain relievers and Covid self-testing kits to treat flu-like symptoms.

In recent days, long queues outside fever clinics and infectious diseases departments at hospitals have become a common sight in Beijing and other cities. Pharmacies are turning away customers as they have run out of medicines which had led to many relying on natural remedies like consuming vitamin C rich fruits such as lemons.

The problem in China has shot up due to a surge in COVID-19 numbers. But authorities at National Health Commission (NHC) maintained that it has only reported 5,237 COVID-related deaths ever since the beginning of the pandemic- a number seen as extremely low, considering its population of 1.4 billion people and compared to global standards. However, if stories coming out of China are to be believed, the actual number of fatalities could be much higher.

On Monday, epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding cautioned that China has an ibuprofen shortage. He also warned that the rest of the world would soon face similar shortages. That prediction seems to be coming true.

Shortage of medicines

The China Business News reported on Dec. 17 that as hospitals and health workers witness an overwhelming amount of patients, Chinese citizens have been trying to source the drugs with family and friends overseas to secure Covid supplies, given the situation that many online pharmacies have sold out or are offering imported medicines at hugely inflated prices.

Going by the reports, the panic-buying has spread outside mainland China, with generic Tylenol and Advil selling out at drugstores in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and as far away as Australia, leading some local pharmacies to curtail sales. The report also quoted Shanghai resident Lin Shen as saying that he had managed to source four bottles of pediatric Panadol via relatives living in Australia.

Last week, Radio Free Asia reported that the run on fever-reducing antipyretics like acetaminophen and ibuprofen had spread to Hong Kong, and with it pharmaceutical price-gouging.

Pharmacies in Taipei have reported a spike in demand for fever medicines to be shipped to China, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Many media houses have reported that hoarding of fever medicines is also being seen in Hong Kong, Macau, and Australia, with people snatching up medicines to be sent to China. In Macao, the drug regulator ordered pharmacies last week to limit purchases of pain relievers, fever medicines and antigen test kits.

However, the situation mirrors shortages seen in the United States, UK, Europe and France over amoxicillin, one of the antibiotics most commonly prescribed to children, which are in high demand because of the proliferation of respiratory viruses.

In France, the government has acknowledged that supplies were tight for both amoxicillin and common painkiller paracetamol, but that patients were still able to find what they were being prescribed.

In Britain, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies has called the shortage of amoxicillin 'very worrying' as the country experiences a surge in scarlet fever and serious Strep A infections that has already killed nine children.

Chinese cities give out free fever drugs

While the demand for medicines has stretched supplies and pushed up prices, Dongguan, a large city in southern China, said that a total of 100,000 ibuprofen tablets had arrived in the city and will be given to 41 state drug stores this week before being made available for free, according to a report by Global Times.

In Wuhan, the central city where the virus was first discovered in late 2019, 3 million ibuprofen tablets have been supplied to medical institutions and retail pharmacies each day since Dec. 17, the report said.

Shenzhen, China's major tech hub north of Hong Kong, announced that it was splitting packages of drugs and test kits into smaller batches than originally planned, to sell to more people. The batches will cover three days of supplies for anti-fever drugs, it said.

India ready to export fever drugs to China

Hailed as the 'pharmacy of the world', the booming pharmaceutical industry of India is ready to step up exports of fever medicines to China, said the chairperson of India's drug export body on Thursday.

According to a Reuters report, Sahil Munjal, chairman of Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), said,''Marketing queries are coming to drugmakers asking for quotes on ibuprofen and paracetamol. Ibuprofen and paracetamol are facing a shortage in China at the moment, they are high in demand."

Pharmexcil is an arm that functions under the ministry of commerce and industry, set up under the provisions of the Foreign Trade Policy in 2004 and is a body for promoting pharmaceutical exports from India.

India said the country, one of the biggest makers of generic medicines in the world, was ready to help China. External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media, "We are keeping an eye on the Covid situation in China. We have always helped other countries as the pharmacy of the world.''

Meanwhile, India's pharma exports have increased 138 per cent in April-October 2022-23 compared to the same period of 2013-14 when the country became the pharmacy for the world. India's pharma exports witnessed a growth of 138 per cent since April-October 2013-14, from Rs 37,987.68 crores in 2013-14 to Rs 90,324.23 crores in 2021-22.

India ranks 3rd worldwide for production by volume and 14th by value. It is also noteworthy that around 55 % of our pharma exports cater to highly regulated markets. Indian pharma companies have a substantial share in the prescription market in the US and EU. The largest number of FDA approved plants outside the US is in India.

Even in the year, 2020-21, Indian drugs and pharmaceuticals had registered a sharp growth amid the COVID despair, achieving an export of USD 24.4 Bn with a YoY growth of 18%.