Dhaka, August 9 :

With major Asian producers India and China kept out of competition, Bangl-adesh, which enjoys the pa-tent rights exemption under the present World Trade Organisation (WTO) regim-e, is racing ahead as a producer and exporter of pharmaceutical products.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has commended Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry as the largest among the 50 least developed countries. Its 10 per cent annual growth rate is one of the fastest. Export of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products to global market are increasing at a robust 40 per cent annually.

The industry’s market share stood at $500 million last year, meeting 96 per cent of domestic demand, besides exporting to over 60 counties. Bangladesh now produces more than 5,000 registered brands with over 8,000 different dosages in different forms and stren-gths. The export items cover wide range of products of all major therapeutic classes and dosage forms. It incl-udes high-technology pro-ducts like inhalers, suppositories, nasal sprays, injectibles and infusions.

However, even though more than 150 companies are producing drugs in the country, its basic problem is that the manufacturers are still dependent on 80 per cent imported raw materials. Initiatives are in place now to set up new industries to produce raw materials, which will be reflected in further growth in the country’s pharmaceutical sector soon. The ADB said the pharmaceutical industry here is largely dominated by domestic producers, with few Bangladeshi multinational firms also engaging in production and marketing. It said the quality and effectiveness of Bangladeshi drugs are wid-ely acclaimed globally.

Bangladesh is enjoying a patent right exemption of the WTO, to continue up to 2016 as a LDC, and it is taking full advantage of it.

Most manufacturers, however, produce finished patented drugs, with only a few firms involved in producing active raw material known as pharmaceutical ingredients. The export of the country’s pharmaceutical drugs started at first to neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal.