IMPACT

ON
PHARMA
SECTORS
DURING
COVID-19
NAME- Archi Gupta
CLASS- XI C

guptaarchi009@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION
India is the largest provider of generic drugs
globally. Indian pharmaceutical sector supplies over
50% of global demand for various vaccines, 40% of
generic demand in the US and 25% of all medicine
in the UK. Globally, India ranks 3rd in terms of
pharmaceutical production by volume and 14th by
value. The domestic pharmaceutical industry
includes a network of 3,000 drug companies and
~10,500 manufacturing units.
India enjoys an important position in the global
pharmaceuticals sector. The country also has a
large pool of scientists and engineers with a
potential to steer the industry ahead to greater
heights. Presently, over 80% of the antiretroviral
drugs used globally to combat AIDS (Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome) are supplied by
Indian pharmaceutical firms.
ECONOMIC GROWTH OF PHARMA SECTOR
BEFOR COVID
India is a prominent and rapidly growing presence in
global pharmaceuticals. It is the largest provider of
generic medicines globally, occupying a 20% share
in global supply by volume, and also supplies 62%
of global demand for vaccines .India ranks
3rd worldwide for production by volume and 14th by
value. India is the only country with largest number
of US-FDA compliant Pharma plants (more than 262
including APIs) outside of USA. India has more
than 2000 WHO-GMP approved Pharma Plants, 253
European Directorate of Quality Medicines (EDQM)
approved plants with modern state of the art
Technology.
India is the source of 60,000 generic brands across
60 therapeutic categories and manufactures more
than 500 different Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
(APIs). The API industry is ranked third largest in the
world contributing 57% of APIs to prequalified list of
the WHO.
The country is home to more than 3,000 Pharma
companies with a strong network of over 10,500
manufacturing facilities. The domestic
pharmaceuticals market turnover reached
$20.03 billion in 2019, up 9.3% from 2018, growing
as penetration of health insurance and pharmacies
rise.
 The total market size of the Indian Pharma Industry
is expected to reach $130 Billion by 2030
 India holds 12% of all global manufacturing sites
catering to US market
 The cost of manufacturing in India is approximately
33% lower than that of the US
 India’s online pharmacy market is estimated to swell
to $2.7 billion by 2023 from about $360 million in
2019.
ECONOMIC GROWTH OF PHARMA SECTORS
AFTER COVID 19
The fresh wave of Covid-19 in the country has
pushed up sales of medicines and resulted in
exponential growth for the pharmaceutical sector.
According to total sales audit data from world's
largest pharmaceutical market research firm IMS
Health, the Indian Pharma Market (IPM) grew 59 per
cent yoy in April, 2021 vs 16 per cent yoy in March,
2021 due to the low base effect in April, 2020 and
sharp surge in Covid-19-related sales.
On the MAT (moving annual turnover) basis, IPM
grew 9.6 per cent, primarily driven by pricing growth
of 4.3 per cent and new product launch growth of 4.6
per cent. Volume growth was muted at 0.8 per cent.
According to a report from Emkay Global Financial
Services, all major therapies posted high double-
digit growth in April 21.
Within Chronic therapies, Cardiac therapy grew 22
per cent. Similarly Anti-diabetic therapy grew 10 per
cent. VMS (vitamins, minerals and supplements)
posted record growth of 80 per cent in April 21 vs 27
per cent in March 21.
The growth in respiratory therapy rebounded sharply
at 64 per cent in April 21 after falling for nine
consecutive months.

SHORT TERM IMPACT OF COVID 19 ON

PHARAM SECTORS

Demand change, supply shortages, panic buying

and stocking, regulation changes and shift of
communication and promotions to remote
interactions through technology and research and
development (R&D) process changes can be seen
as short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the health
market.

Demand change, which leads to shortage, in the

case of induced demand and panic-buying of
oral home-medications especially for chronic
disease may be due to the pandemic (COVID-
19-related), and also shortages due to supply-
chain inconsistencies.
Shift of communication and promotions to
remote interactions through tele-communication
and tele-health:
In both global and local levels, due to the social
distancing precautions, marketing and
promotions of health-care products to providers
 are being shifted from face-to-face towards
remote interactions and tele-communications; for
both promotional and patient-support acts. In
USA, the number of patients who have visited
physician offices or clinics reduced by 70 to
80%.

3 Research and development changes

In global levels, at least 113 medicines or regimens
and 53 vaccines are in research and development
pipelines or active clinical trials, as therapeutics for
patients diagnosed with COVID-19 [12]. As of April
23, 2020, there are about 924 ongoing trials in the
world for the treatment of COVID-19. Only 15% of
these studies are based on conventional RCT
methods, double-blind and multi-center randomized
with comparator arm, but about 40% are not even
randomized.

LONG TERM IMPACT OF COVID 19 ON PHARMA

SECTORS
Approval delays, moving towards self-sufficiency in
pharm-production supply chain, industry growth
slow-down and possible trend changes in
consumption could be seen as long-term impacts of
COVID-19 on the health and pharmaceutical market.
 1. Delayed approvals for non-COVID-related
pharmaceutical products;
As all countries, including Iran, are being under
pressure of the crisis and their priority is
COVID-19 management, approval delays may
be seen due to several month of application
review postponements.
2. Moving towards self-sufficiency in pharma
industry;

Potential shortages due to export bans in India

and China, who are main suppliers of API and
generics, made governments of many countries
to consider self-sufficiency in supply chain and
they have announced regulations to avoid
shortages in such crisis 

3. Pharmaceutical industry growth slow-down;

Coronavirus pandemic resulted in economical slow-
downs for many countries and this will possibly lead
to Pharma industry growth slow-down, which are
sensitive to country economic growth; especially, in
countries with pharmerging markets, like Iran.

4. Ethical considerations: 
One of the long-term effects of growing clinical
research related to the current pandemic is the use
of poorly evidence centered therapies. Ethical issues
should be considered in the use of these medicines
as off-label 
5. Consumption trend changes in health-related
products: 
Changing habits related to consumption and refilling
prescriptions, especially in chronic disease
therapeutic areas, might happen; and may also be
further affected by the emerging tele-medicine.