'Allocate key chemicals to avert drug shortages', says Pharmexcil amid West Asia war

New Delhi: The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) has urged the government to allocate raw materials like propylene, methanol, ammonia and butane to manufacturers of solvents and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as inventories of these key inputs have depleted to critically low levels due to the West Asia conflict.

If solvent manufacturers do not reinstate their supplies, the market would face shortages of medicines, as these categories have big influence on the pharma industry, Pharmexcil chairman Namit Joshi said.

Joshi said the industry is awaiting government intervention.


"The pharma industry and in particular API manufacturers are facing a huge challenge in procuring solvents from manufacturers as they are saying that their supply chain is impacted due to the Middle East crisis," said an industry expert.

Of the estimated consolidated monthly requirement of about 55,000 metric tonnes of key starting materials comprising propylene, methanol, ammonia, and butane, about 80% is currently sourced domestically, with the remaining 20% met through imports.

The government has been closely working with the industry and may grant some quota to the pharma sector by diverting supplies to solvent manufacturers, the industry expert said.

"Government's endeavour was to first cover LPG and later focus on other areas," Joshi said. "Now the inventory of solvent manufacturers has depleted to almost negligible levels, hence important for the government to divert these petro products to solvent manufacturers who in turn can serve API manufacturing units."