South Asia is a tough market to crack, says Novartis Bangladesh executive
Finance Director Sazzad Rahim Chowdhury says many restrictions are imposed on multinationals
Bangladesh's pharmaceuticals industry lacks a 'level-playing field', leaving multinationals to wade through a raft of regulatory restrictions which may not apply to locally-owned manufacturers, a top official of Novartis Bangladesh said.
'This is a very challenging market. There are lots of restrictions on multinational companies,' Sazzad Rahim Chowdhury, Finance Director at the Swiss drug giant, told Manufacturing Chemist.
'Any two molecules manufactured locally can’t be imported. We can’t produce here OTC [over-the-counter] drugs, like vitamins. And it’s a price-controlled industry,' he added.
He said his company, in common with other multinational corporations, needs to stave off stiff competition from local drugmakers. 'There’s a lack of level-playing field – I would say,' he said.
New product registration and approval and registration for imported finished product is a 'lengthy process', and requires approvals from multiple government agencies, including the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), he explained.
But there's a big future for the Bangladesh phamraceuticals industry
However, Chowdhury said although Novartis, which mainly focuses on antibiotics, anti-ulcerants, central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular medicines in Bangladesh, commands only a 3% market share, there is significant potential. The country’s estimated US$3.82bn pharmaceuticals market has been chalking up double-digit growth annually since 2009.
Bangladesh pharmaceutical sales grew 16% between 2012 and 2013, rising from $1.52bn in 2012 to $1.76bn in 2013, according to the latest data from Massachusetts, US-based Fast Market Research (FMR).
'Costs of production are cheaper here than the western world. There’s a big future for the Bangladesh pharmaceuticals industry,' predicted Chowdhury, who finds Novartis’s clearly defined procedures convenient to keep a tight grip on the finances of local operations. But in a country with a history of weak financial controls, his company faces problems dealing with external suppliers and customers who may not have the same standards.
'Internally, we don’t have a problem. But externally, we face stringent problems,' he said. 'We’ve an internal control division. We rigorously follow [Novartis] group standards…Existing staff are familiar with the system, and we have an extensive [training] programme for new joiners.'