ISLAMABAD: The major manufacturer of Paracetamol products in Pakistan Wednesday announced plan to resume full production of paracetamol tablets and syrups following an agreement on the price of essential medicine with the government, which also said pharmaceutical companies had agreed to reduce prices of paracetamol products, which is almost half of the price increase demanded by the industry.
“Federal Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar in a meeting with heads of major pharmaceutical companies, discussed the retail price of paracetamol products. The pharma industry agreed upon the reduced prices of paracetamol 500mg tablet at Rs2.35, paracetamol extra 500 mg at Rs2.75 and Syrup at Rs117.6, which is almost half of the price increase demanded by them. Production of paracetamol products has been started,” the Federal Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Pakistan faced a paracetamol crisis after GSK Consumer Healthcare Pakistan Limited, the largest producer of paracetamol tablets in the country, suspended production of all paracetamol products last week by declaring ‘force majeure’, which resulted in a shortage of essential medicine.
Following the meeting, a representative of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) who attended the meeting, said that GSK Consumer Healthcare Pakistan has assured to produce paracetamol at maximum capacity, saying these are not the ideal prices for them but at least they would not be incurring any loss of paracetamol products prices.
