Chemists may don pill maker's role

MUMBAI: Retail and dispensing chemists across the country are now gearing up to launch their own brand of medicines in the market. Armed with a list of around 60 items, that include popular pain killers, antibiotics, cough syrups, nimesulide and even drugs to control cholesterol, pharmacies across the country are seeking out idle plants of domestic companies to flag off their manufacturing process.

The 5,500 small and big chemist shops that comprise the Retail & Dispensing Chemists Association (RDCA) have already broached the subject with the officials of the Food and Drug Administration . Initial forays have also been made to domestic drug firms who have idle plants in Nasik and MIDC areas, to take on the contract of manufacturing these drugs.

“The idea is to manufacture generic drugs under the RDCA name and sell them at the cheapest available rates,’’ said Kishore Shah of the Association . “Not only will this bring down costs by 75%, it will also prove to be a boost to the government’s policy of supplying medicines to the remotest areas, since distribution accounts for almost 35% of the retail cost of a drug.’’

Giving an example, Shah maintained that the association would manufacture nimesulide at Rs 1.80. “We will sell it at Rs 2 under our own brand name, rather than the Rs 22 that the pain-killer is currently priced at. We have given this much thought and have also held preliminary discusssions with domestic companies to outsource the manufacturing ,’’ he said.

The idea, to launch drugs under the RDCA brand, was borne out of several discussions by the sister organisation , the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), which is representative of pharmaceutical traders in the country. The AIOCD has held several meetings with major pharmaceutical companies to bring in a uniform trade policy for marketing generic medicines.

While several meetings have been held between a dozen top generic companies, including Ranbaxy, Cipla, Cadilla and Orchid, for setting up a common trade practice in the drug distribution chain network, the association is looking at bridging the gap by supplying cheaper drugs under its own brand name.

TAKING STOCK OF THINGS:

Stockists in India operate on a margin of 8% on the ‘maximum retail price’ of price-controlled drugs and 16% on de-controlled products. There are an estimated 60,000 stockists in India. Usually a stockist handles the business of six to eight companies. A few of them handle more than 50 companies.