http://www.newagebd.com/2008/jun/27/busi.html#4
Govt mulls NRBs’ offer to set up pharma research centre
Kazi Azizul Islam
The government is considering a proposal, of some non-resident Bangladeshis in Australia, for setting up a pharmaceutical research centre in the country. Sources in the Board of Investment, which is working on the proposal, told New Age the government high-ups responded positively to the proposal feeling the necessity of such a centre to support growth of the pharmaceutical companies as well as their export mission.
According to the BoI officials, a group of NRB investors proposed raising funds from Australia for setting up of the multimillion dollar centre which required sophisticated equipment.
The BoI officials told New Age that Dr. Zahir Khan, an NRB and a renowned pharmaceutical expert Australia in, forwarded the proposal to the BoI through the Bangladesh embassy in Canberra.
The BoI is discussing the proposal with the representatives of pharmaceutical entrepreneurs, officials of the Export Promotion Bureau and other stakeholders.
‘We are considering the venture as potential for the growth of increasing number of drug exporters in Bangladesh,’ a senior official of the EPB said.
As the proposal came from private sector and people having experiences in the developed counties, the official said, the venture is expected to gain success.
The BoI was apprised that several hundred Bangladeshi pharmacists, microbiologists and other pharmaceutical professionals were working in the EU, US and Australian private and public organisations.
‘The venture can help the local companies in promoting drugs for both local and overseas markets,’ said one BoI official.
Local exporters are preparing to capture the EU and US drug markets as Bangladesh, being advanced among other LDCs, has potential to utilise the easy market access with its cost-effective products.
According to a WTO agreement, the LDCs do not have to implement any kind of intellectual property rights at least before 2016 for medicines and drugs.
Around 30 Bangladeshi drugs producers have so far explored markets in more than 50 countries including Africa, Latin America and Asia.
According to the EPB sources, export figure will surely reach $40 million with a growth of 50 per cent in the current fiscal.
But, the industry insiders said the current amount is almost nothing compared to the industry’s capacity and potential in the global market.
They claimed that with already increased production capacity for 20 billion pieces of tablets, only for export, local drug makers can immediately feed a market for $2 billion.
