CONTENT:

SL NO
1

TOPICS
INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES

METHODOLOGY

AN OVERVIEW OF PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR IN

PAGE NO:
1-2

3-4

BANGLADESH

ANALYSIS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE

5-17

INTERNATIONAL MARKET:

EXPORT SCENARIO OF PHARMACEUTICALS OF

BANGLADESH:
EXPORT OF MEDICINE FROM BANGLADESH
(COMPARSION OF 4 YEARS)

EXPANDING MARKETS:

POST WTO OPPORTUNITIES

THE FATE OF PHARMACEUTICALS EXPORT OF

BANGLADESH ATER 2016:

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TO WIDEN

GLOBAL REACH:

MAJOR OBSTACLES TO PHARMACEUTICAL

EXPORT: STEPS SHOULD BE TAKEN

SWOT ANALYSIS OF PHARMACEUTICAL

18-19

MARLKETING FOCUSING ON INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESS

CONCLUSION

20

REFERENCES

21-22

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 1

SWOT ANALYSIS OF PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING FOCUSING

ON INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
INTRODUCTION:
There are several sectors in Bangladesh on which we can be proud of and undoubtedly the
pharmaceutical sector is one of these sectors. It is one of Bangladeshs success stories and one of
the most technologically advanced sectors currently in existence. This industry is matter of
substantial pride to the country. Skillful attitudes, knowledge and innovative ideas from the
professionals are the key reasons why this industry grew in the way it did.
The success story of Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector is very pleasant. It had to travel a long
way to achieve the present prestigious position in domestic and international markets. By now,
97% of countrys demand of medicines is produced locally mainly by national pharmaceutical
companies. The pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh is expanding rapidly and some companies
have already certified by different international regulatory authorities like UK-MHRA,
Australia-TGA, EU, etc. for quality management and quality products manufacturing. Moreover,
few companies are on the road to achieve US-FDA approval. According to the information of the
Director General of Drug Administration of Bangladesh (DGDA), there are 263 Allopathic drug
manufacturing companies in Bangladesh; 209 of which are functional, 29 companies are nonfunctional and 25 companies are suspended in status. Pharmaceutical export is contributing to the
GDP of the country and every year this contribution is positively growing In the meantime,
Pharma sector has become the 2nd largest potential sector in Bangladesh to earn foreign
currency.
At present, about 30 pharmaceutical companies have started their export activities. Many smaller
companies are on the verge of entering highly regulated overseas markets. Bearing in mind its
successful past endeavors, the industry has the ability to establish itself in mass exportation.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 2

OBJECTIVES:
In this report a SWOT analysis of pharmaceutical marketing in Bangladesh has been presented in
order
To present the pharmaceutical exports scenario of Bangladesh.
To evaluate export prospect of pharmaceutical industries of Bangladesh.
To identify the problems of associated with pharmaceuticals exports from Bangladesh.

To find out possible solution of pharmaceuticals export related problems.

METHODOLOGY:
The SWOT analysis and the report have been done according to some primary and
secondary data. Top twenty leading pharmaceutical companies have been selected for the
study.
Primary data have been collected from the website, annual reports from discussions with
some concerned executives /top officials of different pharmaceutical companies.
The study utilizes different secondary industry related data on export-import, marketing,
human resources, dumping etc, which are collected from the website, annual reports of
different pharmaceutical firms important research papers, magazines ,relevant books,
newspapers, journals and other relevant documents.
The topics that were discussed with the relevant officials are given below:
Present status of exporting pharmaceuticals from his/her company.
Modes of international business operation of his/her company.
Challenges faced by his/her company while exporting pharmaceuticals.
Future planning about his/her company regarding pharmaceutical export.
Comment on government patronization regarding pharmaceuticals export.
Evaluation of the present export policy.
Preparation about TRIPs.
Technological competitiveness of his/her company.
Management view about export expansion.
Satisfaction level with the services of government offices related to export.
PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 3

AN OVERVIEW OF PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR IN BANGLADESH:

The pharmaceutical sector is the second-largest contributor to the government exchequer. There
are about 263 companies in this sector and the approximate total market size is about Taka
30,000 million per year of which about 95% of the total requirement of medicines is created by
the local companies and the rest 5% is imported. The imported drugs mainly comprise of the
cancer drugs, vaccines for viral diseases, hormones etc.
In fact, the real growth of local pharmaceutical industries started after the Drug Control Act
was promulgated in 1982 in Bangladesh to restrict massive import of drugs and to encourage
local manufacturing of the same. A lot of multinational companies (MNCs) became unhappy for
this development.
In Bangladesh, pharmaceutical is now one of the fastest growing sectors. In 2004, the total size
of the pharma market of Bangladesh was estimated to be Tk. 28,416 Million. With an annual
growth rate of about 10%, Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Industry is now heading towards selfsufficiency in meeting the local demand. Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry is the second
highest contributor to the national exchequer after garments, and it is the largest white-collar
intensive employment sector of the country.
There are about 450 generics registered in Bangladesh. Out of these 450 generics, 117 are in the
controlled category i.e. in the essential drug list. The remaining 333 generics are in the
decontrolled category, The total number of brands /items that are registered in Bangladesh is
currently estimated to be 5,300, while the total number of dosage forms and strengths are 8,300.
Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry is mainly dominated by domestic manufacturers. Of the
total pharmaceutical market of Bangladesh, the local companies are enjoying a market share
reaching around 80%, while the MNCs are having a market share of 20%. Out of the top ten
pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh, eight are local pharmaceutical companies, while only
two are MNCs. The top two domestic manufacturers, namely Square and Beximco Pharma are
having a combined market share of about 25% of the total pharmaceutical market of the country.
The Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries BAPI (Bangladesh Aushad Shilpa
Samity in Bengali), established in 1972 with just 33 members, has been playing a very vital role
PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 4

for development of this sector. Today, BAPI is a very strong organization having as many as 144
companies (as listed at Annexure-I) as its members.
Here are the names of some pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh:
Square Pharmaceuticals
Incepta Pharmaceuticals
Beximco Pharmaceuticals
Opsonin Pharma
Renata
Eskayef Bangladesh
ACI
Acme Pharmaceutical
Aristopharma
Drug International
Sanofi-Aventis Bangladesh Ltd
GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) Bangladesh Limited
Orion Pharma Ltd
Novo Nordisk
Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Limited
General Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Sandoz (generic pharmaceuticals division of Novartis)
Popular Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (PPL)
Novartis (Bangladesh) Limited
IBN SINA Pharmaceutical Industry Ltd. (IPI)
Nuvista Pharma Limited
UniMed UniHealth Pharma Ltd
Sun Pharmaceutical (Bangladesh) Ltd
Globe Pharmaceuticals Ltd
PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 5

ANALYSIS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL

MARKET:
EXPORT SCENARIO OF PHARMACEUTICALS OF BANGLADESH:
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Industry exports a wide range of pharmaceutical products covering
all major therapeutic classes and dosage forms to 79 countries. Beside regular forms like;
Tablets, Capsules & Syrups, Bangladesh is also exporting high-tech specialized products like
HFA Inhalers, CFC Inhalers, Suppositories, Nasal Sprays, Injectables, IV Infusions, etc. are also
being exported from Bangladesh, and have been well accepted by the Medical Practitioners,
Chemists, Patients and the Regulatory Bodies of all the importing nations. The packaging and the
presentation of the products of Bangladesh are comparable to any international standard and
have been accepted by them.
By the late 1980s, Bangladesh had become a drug exporting country. Bangladeshi
pharmaceutical exports totaled US$48.3million in FY 2011/12, only 0.2 percent of total export
earnings. The bulk of export earnings owe to Novartis/Sandoz. Exports comprise only around 8
percent of the total production of the local.

EXPORT OF MEDICINE FROM BANGLADESH (COMPARSION OF 4

YEARS):
2009, 1 USD=69 BDT
2011, 1 USD=80 BDT
2013, 1 USD= 78 BDT
NO Name
of Export Value in BDT
Pharmaceuticals 2013
2012
1

Novartis
1,012,979,62
0.00

Beximco
1,180,100,71
6.86

Square

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

824523034.
04

2011

2010

2009

90564008 824205923.
0
00

916142685.
55

1043120000 80240000 685088796.

.00
0
00

450276816.
97

786077671.

691938303.

65600000 456805335.

Page 6

868,425,367.
99
4

Incepta
639,340,104.
00

ACME
249,828,903.
59

SK+F
168,495,257.
00

Renata
215,163,002.
65

Jayson
76,223,923.6
2

Aristo Ph.
237,271,250.
00

10

Bio Ph. Lab

116,922,156.
00

11

Opsonin
87,744,824.0
0

12

Opso Saline
ACI
109,486,426.
00

13

General Ph.
63,155,991.4
7

14

Glaxo (BD)
36,355,889.0
0

15

Global Capsules
157,858,775.
20

16

Delta

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

51

43

70

480865794.
00

40000000 208056823.
0
96

147686158.
70

235489197.
51

17410990 139967649.
6
45

99278398.2
4

169116261.
14

16000000 216484100.
0
00

80021267.4
4

267878584.
00

14333241 106019437.
0
30

78247190.0
0

128083402.
40

11191600 131381523.
0
60

136832162.
95

168500988.
00

11139860 79171847.0
7
0

52975640.0
0

64445440.0
0

88000000 63813190.0
0

18176130.0
0

100098605.
60

85660450 56881892.7
5

119479729.
12

96445805.0
0

76170769 70173189.3
0

729850.00
57574616.3
7

89205112.0
0

70344880 ??

70443387.5
4

43278543.0
0

51200000 36859464.0
0

22337311.0
0

116030480.
00

49273066 51196700.2
5

119626462.
75

32600000.0

41700000 11746808.0

107379256.
Page 7

39,858,165.3
6
17

Drug Int.
2,253,896.00

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27
28
29
30

Drug
Int.
(Herbal)
228,144.00
Sanofi Aventis
(BD)
37,301,869.2
0
Navana
39,000,000.0
0
Globe
75,210,144.0
0
Orion
43,697,301.0
0
Popular
87,315,327.0
0
Popular Infusion
3,087,873.00
Edruc
25,108,216.0
0
Health Care
23,135,228.0
0
Remon Drug
23,910,232.0
0
Ziska
13,020,000.0
0
Medimet
Somatec
JMI Ph.
JMI
Bangla
Syringe

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

96

30930576.9
3

41121920 5627821.50

1068620.00

38456934.0
0

38709360 14899430.0
0

8315580.00

41310000.0
0

38000000

41000000.0
0

28000000 3215100.00

1639050.00

43095744.0
0

23443232 27398434.0
0

23615476.7
0

66243372.5
5

28000000 25016472.7
2

9725870.00

2463000.00
14925836.1
8

14048400

40251258.0
0

13600000 11260713.6
0

20504730.0
0

10049756.6
4

9800000

8528246.60

6338715.60

3580940.00

9200000

7505000.00

8688540.00

2720000
1850000
2035200
460800

2577000.00

1400000.00

4629638.00

Page 8

31

Beacon
48,750,000.0
0

32
33

The White Horse

Radiant

21536080.0
0

6400000

1470000.00

808800
3302080

378000.00

350943600.
00

2466400

672700.00

73720767.6
0

5003640.00

1080000

480550.00

504000.00

2689600.00

4692000

6258700.00

1768000

2099000.00

9291200

1487300.00

4297700

479500.00

3388896.00
3,936,960.09

34

Techno Drugs
461,264,799.
00

35
36

Novo
Care
Alco

Health
5,779,800.00
4,354,376.00

37

Nipa

1254850.00

1,317,965.00
38

Medicon

7399967.00
12,416,040.0
0

39

Hudson

40

IBN Sina
23,667,113.0
0

41
42

Asiatic Lab
Modern Ph.

20486660.0
0

11299540.0
0

1550000.00

2624930.00
1565129.11

518400.00

94519.32
952000.00

11900000.0
0
8750000.00

1087824.00

959,880.00
43
44

EDCL
Amico Lab

1456286.08

1,079,847.60
45
46
47

Maxfair & Co.

Marksman
Pharma
Mystic Ph. Ltd.

580772.02
903000.00

566,000.00
48
49

Active
Fine
Chemicals Ltd.
2,705,174.00
Pacific
In Total Export
Value BDT
6,199,276,55
7.63

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

2058000.00
5396212817 42122412 3274323538 3352076677
.50
60
.91
.27

Page 9

EXPANDING MARKETS:
According to International Marketing Services (IMS), Bangladesh's domestic pharmaceuticals
market grew nearly 13% to $250m in 2013.
In addition, per the Commerce Ministry's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh now
exports to about 85 countries including Austria, Denmark, the UK, Germany, France, Singapore,
Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, Pakistan, Burma and Yemen.
"Our products are being accepted with confidence at home and abroad because of the high
quality," said Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) Director Selim Barami.
According to the DGDA, 194 of 275 government-registered pharmaceutical companies regularly
produce items like cough syrup and flu tablets. Square, Incepta, Beximco, Acme, and Eskayef
account for 45% of Bangladesh's total production, manufacturing products for export in state-of
the-art factories.
Companies like the UK's GlaxoSmithKline, Switzerland's Novartis and France's Sanofi have set
up plants producing life-saving vaccines, anti-cancer drugs and other high-end products in
Bangladesh.
Industry growth has created employment opportunities including for pharmacists, chemists,
microbiologists and doctors that pay well enough to keep professionals from going overseas.
Bangladesh is trying to establish an industrial park for pharmaceutical production.
Needless to mention that, Bangladesh can also ensure huge value addition by pharmaceutical
export since the export price is much higher than the local price. For example, in Bangladesh the
price of one fluconazole capsule is Tk. 8 whereas fluconazole is exported to Pakistan at a price of
Tk. 38. Similarly, the price of paracetamol syrup in Bangladesh is Tk. 13 but it is exported to
Russia at a price of Tk. 100

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 10

POST WTO OPPORTUNITIES

1. EXPORT:

The future of pharmaceutical exports from Bangladesh is bright. After the inclusion of the Doha
declaration in WTO / TRIPS Agreement, each and every country belonging to the LDC Category
has the option not to opt for pharma product patent until year 2,016; which means, they can now
legally reverse-engineer patented products and sell in their markets and can export to other
LDCs, too. This generates a huge export opportunities for Bangladesh, as among all 50 LDCs,
Bangladesh is the only country which had a strong pharma manufacturing base. Besides direct
export operations, there is also a huge opportunity for the Bangladeshi companies to go for the
Contract Manufacturing and compulsory licensing. The good news is, the leading pharma
exporters of Bangladesh have already started availing these opportunities.

2. COMPULSORY LICENSING AND CONTRACT

MANUFACTURING:
For countries where pharmaceutical patent has came into-effect from January 01, 2005,
compulsory licensing is neither a practical nor a feasible option to meet national emergencies. In
case of National Emergencies, it may take 2 to 3 years to get the products through Compulsory
Licensing because the generic manufacturing company, after getting the permission to
manufacture patented products from Drug Authority, have to go through all the processes (e.g.
RM sourcing, development-RM procurement, product development, stability studies,
commercial RM procurement, production etc.) to introduce the products.
In such situation, Bangladesh could be an ideal candidate having all the manufacturing facilities
and well developed formulation R&D that could be utilized for immediate manufacturing of the
patented life saving molecule using compulsory licensing.
Bangladesh has all the infrastructure & facilities to be an ideal place for contract manufacturing.
It has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, highly educated & skilled human resources,
sophisticated & cutting edge quality control laboratories. It can manufacture highest quality
PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 11

products conforming to all international standards like British Pharmacopoeia (BP), United
States Pharmacopoeia (USP), European Pharmacopoeia (EP) and any other recognized standards.
Equipped with the most advanced technologies & following cGMP standards, Bangladesh
Pharmaceutical Industry can cater to any healthcare need of all concerned. Some of the
Pharmaceutical manufacturers of Bangladesh have made multimillion dollar investments on new
plant and facilities conforming to USFDA standards. They have sufficient production capacity
for contract manufacturing. Since Bangladesh has abundant and cheap labor force, the cost of
contract manufacturing would be highly favorable compared to any other countries of the world.
3) JOINT VENTURE INVESTMENT OPPURTUNITIES:
Bangladesh has a very big market for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), excipients and
intermediates. Although it is self sufficient in formulation drugs meeting 95% of countrys
demand it still depends largely on imported bulk drugs. Around 80% of Bangladeshs total need
of API is being met through import. Under TRIPS agreement Bangladesh will enjoy
manufacturing patented drugs until 2016. Since most of the countries of the world will not be
able to manufacture patented drugs after 2005, there exists an excellent opportunity for foreign
investors in bulk drug manufacturing in Bangladesh. They will be able to cater to growing bulk
drug need of Bangladesh as well as 49 such other patent exempted countries of the world.
Bangladesh would be an excellent place for investors and relocating R&D set-ups for reverse
engineering, especially for those countries that will be restricted to manufacture patented drugs
after 2005.
Since India and China have very good expertise in API and formulation R&D, they may like to
manufacture the APIs outside their countries as they cannot manufacture these patented APIs in
their countries after 2004.
Because of cost advantage, large pharmaceutical companies of highly regulated markets are now
going for joint venture projects. They have already signed several contracts with companies of
India and China. Bangladesh also has enormous opportunities to go for joint ventures with these
large global companies for manufacturing pharmaceutical finished products.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 12

THE FATE OF PHARMACEUTICALS EXPORT OF BANGLADESH

AFTER 2016:
As a member country of LDC, Bangladesh is enjoying waiver from patent law enforcement
which will continue up to 2016. By virtue of this opportunity, our companies can manufacture
patented drugs without giving any payment for patent right, thus it is now possible for us to
produce any patented drugs at very low price and can export to other countries. For this reason, a
Bangladeshi company would offer export price to an LDC much lower than could do a company
from India, China or other countries where patent right implemented. In this sense, Bangladesh is
passing a golden time for export of patented drugs in other LDCs. Yet, our export price is not as
lower as it would be compared to India and China, because we are not yet independent to our
raw materials and other materials required for the production of a finished medicine. Still, we
have to import more than 95% of active ingredients and excipients of medicines. This is still a
great drawback for the achievement of our pharmaceutical export. If patent right is enforced in
Bangladesh after 2016, the production cost of medicines will remarkably be increased, thus it
would not be possible for us to compete with the offer price of India and China, thus our export
market drastically will be reduced, because the pharma market in LDCs will be opened for all
and we will have to face great challenges for our existence in global market. But fortunately, if
the patent waiver is extended for another 10 years, we can really enjoy the taste of patent
exemption at that time because our pharma sector will be almost self reliable within that period.

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TO WIDEN GLOBAL REACH:

State-owned Essential Drugs Company Ltd (EDCL) has recently entered the Sri Lankan market
with nine products under a government-to-government (G2G) agreement.
Beximco Pharma also started exporting medicines to Europe in February after another two local
companies:

Eskayef

and

Square

carved

niche

in

the

market

much

earlier.

State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka will procure medicines worth Tk 400 crore from
Bangladesh during fiscal 2013-2014.Sri Lankan Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena expressed
their interest to import the medicines during his visit to Bangladesh .They sent a list of 778
medicines and 1,284 laboratory items to the EDCL.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 13

Bangladesh produces 75 percent of these medicines, and the Lankan government has allowed
getting the items manufactured by private companies. They prefer our medicines, which, they
said are better than those from India. We can offer high quality products at lower prices.Sri
Lanka will initially buy medicines worth Tk 2 crore. Bangladesh also requested the Sri Lankan
government to relax rules for Bangladeshi companies for participating in international bidding.

MAJOR OBSTACLES TO PHARMACEUTICAL EXPORT: STEPS

SHOULD BE TAKEN:
Restriction of Bangladesh bank to remit transfer seriously hampering
pharmaceutical export:
Bangladesh bank permits to remit maximum 30,000 USD in a year. Payment
for company and product registrations, office establishment and maintenance,
manpower cost, marketing expenditure/promotion of drugs, and miscellaneous export
related expenditure becomes much higher than the above limit. The government should
really understand that this barrier is hampering our export activities. Therefore, remit
limit for smooth operation of pharmaceutical export activities should not be imposed. It is
worthy to mention here that BAPI leaders/authority and many business experts urged to
the proper authority of our government, also discussed and urged in different
seminars/meetings to solve this issue in different times, but the problem has not yet been
solved. So, for the sake of pharmaceutical export, the govt. should immediately remove
the restrictions imposed by Bangladesh bank to remit money for export activities.
Custom harassment in sending drug sample interrupts export promotion:
The customs a u t h o r i t y o f B a n g l a d e s h i m p o s e s l o t o f r e s t r i c t i o n s i n
s e n d i n g d r u g s a m p l e s t o t h e importing countries. Instead of doing favor they
are rather interrupting our normal export activities. Sometimes they apply many
restrictions on giving permission to sending drug samples, also limit the quantity of
samples to be sent, and above all, dont allow sending drug sample more than BDT 4000
without vat.It must be realized that without sufficient drug samples, no foreign
PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 14

buyers will be interested to buy our products. Besides, for the testing and
promotion purposes, 30-40% samples are required by the importing countries.
Therefore, understanding the reality the custom authority should allow at
least 30-40%samples to be sent to the importing countries without vat.
Lack of Bioequivalence test facility in our country is a major limitation of
pharmaceutical export:
Bioequivalence study of a product is a must for the registration of that product in many of
the moderately regulated and regulated foreign countries. At present, we dont have any
facilities for bioequivalence study. In order to register a product, a pharmaceutical
company has to carry out this test in foreign country by spending of a huge testing charge
(USD 50,000-100,000/product). For this reason, many pharmaceutical manufacturers
dont show interest to register their products in foreign countries that require
Bioequivalence study. It is relevant here to mention that BAPI and pharmaceutical
exporters first felt the necessity of having Bioequivalence test facility in our country and
they proposed and demanded to set up a modern Bioequivalence test center to the govt.
for the promotion of pharmaceutical export. But its a matter of great regret that still no
step has been taken by the govt. It hampers our overall export activities. The government
of Bangladesh should immediately set up an independent modern Bioequivalence test
laboratory in our country to gear up the overall export activities and to save huge foreign
currency that our pharmaceutical companies are currently expending. Alternatively, our
pharmaceutical manufacturers can make an agreement with International Center for
Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research in Bangladesh (ICDDRB)

and Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) for
Bioequivalence study with reasonable cost (USD 10,000-15,000/product) (I confidently
believe that from my practical observation that this charge will be ok for Bioequivalence
test of a product in any of the two international organization). These two scientific
organizations can develop enough facilities for Bioequivalence test of drugs if some
companies together/BAPI make an agreement with them. Their test result may be
internationally acceptable.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 15

 Setting up of API Production Park may remarkably reduce the production cost of
medicines thus potentiality contributes to pharmaceutical export:
The major advancement of Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector has been occurred in the
production of finished products. At present, we are greatly dependent on import of raw
materials (more than 90% raw materials are imported) for the production of finished
drugs. Although our labor cost, white color labor cost, utility service charges, etc. are
very low compared to any other countries, only because of our dependent on imported
raw materials, the production cost of our finished products become higher than that of
India and China. Thats why, we cant compete with the Indians and Chinese companies
to offer export prize. Hence, the setting up of an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API)
plant is very urgent issue. Due to the claim and urges of BAPI and pharmaceutical
business entrepreneurs, the govt. of Bangladesh has taken an initiative to establish an API
near Dhaka. Long time has already been passed after taking decision of establishing an
API but still the API has not yet come true. Its a matter of hope that the govt. is working
to establish the API park. We would like to thank the govt. to understand its necessity.
But the progress of API is not as rapid as it would be. Unless and otherwise, API has
been established, we would not be able to provide medicines with a reasonable and very
competitive price. Local production of raw materials in API will greatly contribute to our
pharmaceutical export to extend export volume, and also can potentially contribute to the
countrys economy. We are passing golden times due to patent exemption. We should
utilize this opportunity as many as we can. The government should give vigorous
attention to accelerate all the necessary activities within very short time to complete the
API Park.
Country image and production of substandard/fake drugs by some companies
hampering the acceptance of our products to international community:
Some small scale companies in our country are still producing substandard or spurious
drugs which damage the overall image of Bangladeshi products to the international
community, thus making our export difficult. BAPI can play an important role in this
regard by establishing an effective mechanism by their own arrangement or help the drug
controlling authority -Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) or other
controlling

authority

of

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

the

government

to

control

the

production

of

Page 16

fake/substandard/adulterated/spurious drugs. The government and the drug control

authority should strictly control the manufacturing of spurious or substandard or
adulterated drugs to maintain a clean image of Bangladeshi products home and abroad as
well as for the health safety of the nation.
Lack of a modern drug testing laboratory in our country is a major limitation of drug
control authority of Bangladesh that also affects pharmaceutical export:
We dont have a modern, well equipped drug testing laboratory (DTL) with the
engagement of sufficient and skilled pharmaceutical scientists. Due to lack of this, our
drug control authority cannot monitor the quality of drugs manufactured by different
pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. Moreover, foreign buyers and regulatory
authorities raise question about the status of our drug testing laboratory, the central
quality monitoring facilities of drug authority of Bangladesh. Our existing drug testing
laboratories need massive improvement in this respect. The govt. should immediately do
the necessary work to establish whether a modern DTL or National Control Laboratory
(NCL) with sufficient skilled manpower to monitor the quality of drugs manufactured by
different pharmaceuticals.
The regulatory authorities of importing countries are not satisfied with the status
,activities and documents of drug administration of Bangladesh:
The documents provided by the Drug Administration of Bangladesh are not impressive;
represent the poor status of drug regulatory authority of Bangladesh to the business
community and to the regulatory authorities of importing countries. Besides, the website
of DGDA is still lacking lot of necessary and up to date information, required and
inspected by the business partners and regulatory authorities of importing countries. The
website should be updated regularly. It is noteworthy to mention here that export of
medicine is not as usual as other products like RMG, leather, etc. The importers and
regulatory authorities of medicines have a lot of queries and technical aspects to know to
assure the quality of medicine and reliability of their business. The present status of
DGDA website is better than the previous time and many aspects have been developed
and included. Yet, many more things have to do to make it suitable for international
business.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 17

 Medicine export should be emphasized to LDCs than any other countries:

Some companies are aggressive to enter the highly regulated overseas markets, such as,
USA, Australia, Europe, Canada, France, and Golf countries. But the practical
observation is that getting export status to those countries requires huge investment in the
manufacturing plant to achieve certification from different international drug regulatory
authorities, highly sophisticated documentation, and huge initial capital investment. I
think the main reason of this attitude is to achieve high quality status of the company that
uplifts the dignity of the company to our national and international markets. Actually the
export volume to the highly regulated countries will not be easily feasible; rather we can
perform pretty good and can potentially increase our export if the our exporters become
more attentive to LDCs. Among 50 LDCs, only Bangladesh has its strong fundamental
and modern manufacturing base, hence we can easily share the drug market of rest of the
LDCs. So, considering the practical situation, the LDCs should be the targeted markets of
our pharmaceuticals, of course, side by side, moderately regulated and highly regulated
markets may be explored gradually. However, we can establish joint-venture, tool
manufacturing, and contract- manufacturing business with the companies of developed
countries, not only for exporting medicines.
Establishing Export cell by the govt./private Consultancy firms may promote
pharmaceutical export:
Government can establish specialized Export Cell to promote exports of pharmaceuticals
to grab and capitalize the huge export opportunities in LDCs. Some private Consultancy
firms having experience and expertise in drug export professionally can be engaged to
assist the pharmaceutical companies who do not have the technical and expertise knowhow to go through the entire process of export, or have lacking in documentation skills or
even do not have the skilled man power to deal with the drug export. Thus, Consultancy
firms can play a significant role to explore export to maximum countries, accelerate
export activities, and to reduce the overall cost of export. Even some small companies
having International Marketing Department (IMD) can explore the benefits of
outsourcing by hiring Export Consultants to reduce its overhead expenditure and make a
comparative study of cost-benefit ration to justify having IMD.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 18

SWOT ANALYSIS:
A SWOT analysis identifies and assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of
an organization faces. A SWOT analysis of the pharmaceutical industry illustrates to upper
management what the industry is excelling in, what improvements need to be made, where
growth is possible and what preemptive measures need to be taken to protect shareholder or
company value.
Factors affecting an organization can usually be classified as
Internal factors Strengths (S) & Weaknesses (W)
External factors Opportunities (O) &Threats (T)
A SWOT Analysis of pharmaceutical marketing is presented by the analysis of the present
situation of international market of Bangladesh:
SWOT ANALYSIS OF PHARMACEUTICAL MARKETING FOCUSING ON
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

STRENGTH
1) Some leading companies are producing
world-class products.
2) Products acceptable in the global
market as Quality Products
3) Wide range of products.
4) Price is competitive both in local and
foreign market.
5) Strong brand image created by the
market leaders parallel to MNCs.
6) Large pool of efficient and qualified
technical manpower at minimum cost.
7) Supportive
government
policy
attracting foreign investors.
8) Do not have to comply IPR until 2016.
9) Backward linkage support is being
created.
10) Large domestic market with reasonable
growth rate.
11) Oldest and one of the largest sector in
terms of capital investment

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

WEAKNESS
1)
2)
3)
4)

Very competitive & uneven market.

Lack of research activities.
Lack of bioequivalence test facilities.
Import dependence on active
ingredients.
5) Lack of future planning to expand
export.

Page 19

OPPURTUNITIES
1) Huge potential to set-up
manufacturing plant for API or bulk
drugs.
2) Liberal government policy for the
foreign investors for joint venture
pharmaceuticals unit.
3) Research and development activities
may be initiated with external support.
4) Scope to take advantage of
compulsory licensing, parallel import

THREATS
1) The emergence of a patent regime in
2016.
2) India & China are big challenge.
3) Unfavorable regulations for
pharmaceutical export.
4) Lack of co-operation from foreign
mission of Bangladesh.
5) Insufficient activities DGDA to
facilitate export.
6) Negative Country Image.

and bolar provisions.

5) The emergence of a patent regime is
extending to 2025(not approved yet).
6) Pharmaceutical marketing going to hit
worldwide 1 trillion dollar.
7) Government-to-government (G2G)
agreement with Srilanka.
8) The emergence of a patent regime is
removed worldwide from some fast
moving drug
products(Esomeprazole,Montelukast).

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 20

CONCLUSION:
The pharmaceutical sector has already been declared as the thrust sector by the government of
Bangladesh. Bangladesh has built a strong baseline and going towards the self-sufficiency for the
production of medicine. Meanwhile, some companies have started to produce vaccine, insulin,
anticancer drugs, etc. Our pharmaceutical industries are success in domestic market. Now, its
the time to grow our international market because we passing golden time getting the opportunity
of patent exemption by the TRIPS until 2016. In this article, I have discussed the urgent issues
need to give intimate attention immediately. Besides the above discussing points, providing cash
incentive by the govt. to the medicine exporters, like RMG may encourage pharmaceutical
exporters. International fair arrangement by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) is a very effective
way to search buyers and to establish business in a new country. A lot of initiative have been
taken by BAPI in different times, such as, high level pharmaceuticals delegation team visited
foreign countries to explore export initiated by BAPI. This organization also upheld the demand
and urged to the government and other concerning authorities for API Park, Bioequivalence test
laboratory, Central drug testing laboratory, cash incentives, problems in remit transfer and
sample sending etc. But many issues are yet to resolve. We have already wasted our valuable
time and still loosing to build our infrastructure for export. We should complete our
infrastructure as soon as possible because TRIPs patent protection may be adopted to us after
2016. The government should really be attentive to remove all the obstacles and solve all the
problems to see pharmaceutical sector as a vital player in international market.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 21

REFERENCES:
PRIMARY DATA:
Primary data has been collected form discussions with some concerned executives
of different pharmaceutical companies:
Sk.Raquibur Rahman
Manger, International Marketing.
Advanced Chemical Industries Limited (ACI).
Mohammad Abul Basher Howlader
Marketing Manager.
Advanced Chemical Industries Limited (ACI).
Ashraful Islam
Senior Executive, International Marketing.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Shaker Hussain
Officer International Business.
Radiant Pharmaceuticals (Licensee of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd)

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 22

SECONDARY DATA:
The SWOT analysis utilizes different secondary industry related data on export, import,
marketing, human resources, dumping etc.
Which are collected from:
Magazines: Medipharm
Newspaper: Daily Star
Reports: 1. Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q3 2014.
2. Pharmaceutical Sector of Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges
Different websites:
http://www.assignmentpoint.com/science/pharmacy/assignment-on-pharmaceuticalssector-of-bangladesh.html
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/133506777/SWOT-Analysis-of-BangladeshPharmaceuticals-and-Healthcare-Industry-2012
http://www.espicom.com/bangladesh-pharmaceutical-market.html
http://www.academia.edu/5456867/SWOT_Analysis_Course_FNB_309_Submitted_By_
Strategic_Management_Submitted_By etc.

PREPARED BY PRIYANKA FLORINA

Page 23