COVID-19: India restricts drug exports, sparking fears of global shortage

The world's largest supplier of generic drugs will not be exporting 26 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) as well as medicines made from them. Predicting a possible domestic shortage of drugs during the COVID-19 outbreak, the government of India has imposed restrictions. European countries, as well as the United States, depend on India for the supply of generic drugs and APIs.

Drug manufacturers in India rely on the supply of APIs from China. Almost 70% of the APIs used by the Indian drug manufacturers are sourced from the country where the COVID-19 virus originated. To meet the demand within the country, China has limited the export of APIs leading to a shortage of supply to India.

The Indian government has assured that there is enough stockpile of APIs within the country to manufacture medicines for two to three months. However, to ensure that the country does not face a medical shortage in case of an increase in the number of cases, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has halted the export of certain drugs and APIs.

The list of restricted drugs makes up 10% of India's total pharmaceutical export. It includes antibiotics such as tinidazole and erythromycin, the hormone progesterone, Vitamin B12, and Paracetamol which is also sold as acetaminophen.

Speaking to Reuters, the chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), Dinesh Dua stated that 26% of the European formulations in the generic space relied on Indian formulations. Indian imports accounted for 24% of medicines in the United States in 2018. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to determine how the restriction will affect the supplies to the US.

Stephen Foreman, the lead economist at Oxford Economics, informed BBC that there already a hike in the price of medicines in India due to the supply shortage. With both India and China's restriction of drug and APIs export, a global medicine shortage can be seen in the near future.

Dua pointed out that shipments lined up for export at warehouses and ports remain stalled even though the Pharmexcil urged DGFT to rethink the step to stop the export.