What others can learn from Bangladesh on making cancer drugs available
When it comes to making cancer drugs available, Bangladesh is the perfect role model for a fairytale turnaround.
Just six years ago many of the lifesaving medications had to be imported, posing risks of unavailability, high costs and price fluctuations.
Now local pharmaceuticals not only meet 80 per cent of the country's demand but also export to at least 140 countries, starting off with limited scale shipments in 2015.
So much so that cancer drugs account for nearly half of all pharmaceutical products being exported.
To put things into perspective, Bangladesh exported cancer drugs worth over Tk 500 crore last year, while shipment of other medications hit around Tk 656 crore.
Meanwhile local cancer drug sales amounted to about Tk 600 crore. Demand is growing by 15 per cent on an average every year, according to the manufacturers.
Along with conventional chemotherapy drugs, local pharmaceutical companies manufacture latest oncology products such as monoclonal antibodies, oral targeted therapies and liposomal technology products.
They also manufacture many of the supportive drugs required for cancer treatment such as zoledronic acid, filgrastim and pegfilgrastim injection.
And all it took was meticulous attention to quality and policy support.
In the past 10 years, pharmaceutical companies such as Eskayef, Renata, Incepta, Healthcare, Beacon, Techno Pharma and Julphar have come to manufacture more than 80 types of ontological drugs.
Yet to make exports, Eskayef Bangladesh plans entering the global arena for the first time with cancer drugs.
"We have a plan to go in the global market in coming days. So we are taking preparation," said its director for marketing and sales, Mohammad Mujahidul Islam.
"Eskayef will set up a world class new facility for oncology, which will be the biggest one in the South Asian region, for grabbing the global market," he said.
And it is on the right track too, with its present state-of-the-art manufacturing facility having attained approvals of numerous regulatory bodies.
They include the European Union Good Manufacturing Practice, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the UK, the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia, the United Arab Emirates Good Manufacturing Practice, and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate of the UK.
Beacon Pharmaceuticals on the other hand lays claim to making 80 per cent of the country's export of cancer drugs of around 80 types used in chemotherapy and oral targeted therapy.
Bangladesh's export of cancer drugs is increasing by around 30 to 35 per cent year-on-year, said its director for global business development, Monjurul Alam.
Oncology products were beyond the purchasing power of patients in the past but prices went down by 40 per cent when Beacon started production through compliance with high standards, he said.
Bangladesh's drugs are winning the global market for their quality and low prices; the medicines are cheaper than those provided by the developed world, he added.
Renata, which produces cancer drugs used for oral therapies, is focusing on the markets in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Philippines, said Ananta Saha, its international business manager.
He attributed the growth in exports to the drugs being cheaper as Bangladesh, being a least developed country, does not need to purchase patents.
There is scope for even greater growth, since customs processes are flexible for lifesaving medicines. Moreover, just the physician's prescription is required for any individual to take the drugs from one country to another, he said.
"Pharmaceutical products are essential for all countries. That is why the industry's exports did not decline amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Rather it rose," said Saha.
Locally produced cancer drugs are of internal standard and cheaper than imported ones, which is helping cancer treatment in Bangladesh, said Md Azizul Islam, consultant physician general and specialist of medicine and oncology at Bangladesh Armed Forces.
He believes it would not be long that local pharmaceutical companies will manufacture all types of cancer drugs.
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