Nepali pharmaceutical market is worth Rs 70 billion

Kathmandu, July 30-The annual turnover of the country’s pharmaceutical market has been expanding and it is currently estimated at Rs 70 billion, according to pharmaceutical entrepreneurs.

The market is witnessing the transactions of foreign and domestic drugs worth Rs 70 billion in total which includes the prices of drug raw materials and surgical equipment as well, they inform. The Kathmandu valley alone accounts for some 50 percent of the total medicines consumed in the country. Nepali pharmaceutical companies manufacture some 45 percent of the total volume of drugs and the remaining 55 percent are imported from foreign countries mainly from India, according to the Department of Drug Administration (DDA. It is estimated that the country annually spends some Rs 26 billion for importing medicines.
According to the Nepali Chemists and Druggist Association, some 21` thousands pharmacies across the country are registered at the DDA, while 5 thousand pharmacies may be running without any official registration. The Association also says that though 90 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies are registered at the DDA, only 70 such companies are now currently operating.