India conducts talks with UAE on pharma export pricing challenges

India is holding high-level talks with the UAE to work out a solution for pricing norms in the Gulf nation that act as a barrier to Indian generic drugs and vaccine exports, two people privy to the development said.

- Ravi Dutta Mishra

 

The UAE along with several high- and middle-income Gulf and European countries use what’s called external reference pricing (ERP) to regulate pharmaceutical prices. Under this policy makers specify a basket of countries whose prices they use to inform the price of medical supplies in the country.Trade experts say profit margins for drugs are fixed in the UAE, which means wholesalers or distributors are not allowed to offer bonuses or discounts to pharmacies, leaving them with no incentive to sell low-cost Indian generics.

The UAE has a $3.5 billion pharma market and imports 80% of its pharma products. It is a transnational hub that can give Indian drugmakers access to other global markets, especially large GCC markets such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.