China's delays in the supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) has hurt the production of India's generic drug production. The APIs were said to be a necessary ingredient to the drugs and that the Chinese economic problems have caused a delay in the delivery that disrupted supply chains for the sector.
India's generic drug makers revealed that they still have enough supply of APIs from China to cover their productions for up to three months. However, it was revealed that China, being an important supplier of the basic ingredient for India's generic drugs, may cause a 70 percent decline of API supply into India after the three-month period.
The shortage was expected to cause a price increase in generic drugs in India after April of 2020. According to the head of global sourcing and supply chain for Lupin Ltd. Debabrata Chakravorty, their inventories for the ingredient could only do well for at most 10 weeks.
It was also revealed that pharmaceutical companies in India may resort to local suppliers for the time being. It was further discussed that optimism for the supply dwindled down as the supply chain market hit a major decline as early as Wednesday this week.
The report also explained that the travel bans to China has taken a toll on its economy and disrupted international businesses that rely on Chinese suppliers such as India's pharmaceutical industry.
Although Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. claimed that it has sufficient inventory on APIs in the short run, a few of its API-dependent products are placed warily in the market to uphold a contingency plan in the coming shortage of supply.
The travel bans in China were also explained to may cause a limit to the volume of active ingredients used for the generic drugs in India. It was said that the prices for the drugs may increase as exported products to the United States. It was further discussed that the price increase is subject to market forces.
According to the secretary-general of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association Daara Patel, about 900 drug producers expect a supply disruption by April. Patel added that vitamins and antibiotics are likely to be the products that would be significantly hit by the supply shortage.
A spokeswoman for pharmaceutical industry trade group PhRMA Holly Campbell further announced that companies in India continue to monitor the situation. She added that they would lay down proactive plans to prevent potential shortages.
Secretary-general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) trade group Sudarshian Jain also said that there are no shortages for APIs at the moment because the companies have stocked up in bulk in preparation for its 2020 production line. The said stock was also in response to the alleged expectation of shortage supply during the Chinese Lunar New Year.
