Price control, ad- hocism to hit pharma cos: Pfizer

Mumbai, Sept. 2: Global pharma major Pfizer fears that the pharma industry in India is expected to face challenges from price controls, ad- hoc regulatory changes and new policies that may impact sustainable growth.

“Even though economic outlook is expected to remain positive, there are several headwinds in the healthcare and pharmaceutical regulatory space,” the company had said in its annual note to shareholders.

“While implementation of large scale healthcare initiatives expected to provide a boost to the pharma industry, there will be continued challenges in the areas of price controls, ad- hoc regulatory changes and new policies that may impact predictability and sustainable growth,” it further said.

The Indian pharma market ( IPM) stood at ` 1.21 lakh crore at the end of financial year 2018, growing at 6.3 per cent over the last 12 months period. This represents a significant slowdown from the historic 13- 14 per cent CAGR trends ( 2010- 2016).

This slowdown was largely due to regulatory, policy and GST challenges that impacted industry performance.

“We will continue to face policy unpredictability that will impact our operating environment,” said Pfizer managing director S. Sridhar.

During FY18, he said a process to amend the Drug Price Control Order ( DPCO) was initiated that may again change the price control methodologies in India.

The industry may also continue to see changes in policies around labelling requirements and revisions to the essential medicines list, the Pfizer MD said.