Geographic concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing: The US relies heavily on India

[Nelson Vergel]

The USP Medicine Supply Map analysis (Chart I) counts the number of active API DMFs by location.

India accounts for 48%
China accounts for 13%
U.S. accounts for 10%


India contributed 62% of active API DMFs filed in 2021, up from 20% filed in 2000. This increase is consistent with the country’s well-publicized national ambition to enhance API manufacturing capabilities.
Europe’s contribution declined from 49% of active API DMFs filed in 2000 to 7% filed in 2021
China contributed 18% of new API DMFs filed in 2019, and 23% filed in 2021
U.S. contributed 4% of new API DMFs filed in 2019 and 2021

Source: Geographic concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing: USP Medicine Supply Map analysis | Quality Matters | U.S. Pharmacopeia Blog

 

[tareload]

Thanks very much for posting @Nelson Vergel !!

@BigTex : To your points made previously.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

This will be useful to have the next time someone is bashing Indian online pharmacies.

 

[BigTex]

As I mentioned, the cypionate I get from CVS is made by Sun Pharma, in good old India. My wife and I have been ordering medications directly from India for maybe 15 years. India produces much of the world's finished products but most of the raws they use come from China. The Chinese are very efficient in producing raw pharmaceuticals and do it very cheaply. They are also very good at taking patented formulas and selling the raw powder very cheaply. Yet the FDA tells us all the time how these products are not trustworthy.

Like I said, what we are seeing is a gigantic rip off where American's are getting the screw put to us with high prices. For instance Pfizer is also in Argentina and India. The new drugs they market that are under patent and MUCH cheaper in those countries that they are in America. So in essence we are subsidizing the rest of the world through high prices. We are being gouged and the FDA is a partner in crime by discouraging the importation of foreign pharmaceuticals.

Fentanyl is a huge topic right now and we blame the Mexican drug cartels. Mexico does not product the raw powder, China does. Without Chinese raws Mexico would not be able to produce enough raw powder and very cheap prices to supply the drug cartels.

Thanks Nelson!

 

[Gladiator]

As I mentioned, the cypionate I get from CVS is made by Sun Pharma, in good old India. My wife and I have been ordering medications directly from India for maybe 15 years. India produces much of the world's finished products but most of the raws they use come from China. The Chinese are very efficient in producing raw pharmaceuticals and do it very cheaply. They are also very good at taking patented formulas and selling the raw powder very cheaply. Yet the FDA tells us all the time how these products are not trustworthy.

Like I said, what we are seeing is a gigantic rip off where American's are getting the screw put to us with high prices. For instance Pfizer is also in Argentina and India. The new drugs they market that are under patent and MUCH cheaper in those countries that they are in America. So in essence we are subsidizing the rest of the world through high prices. We are being gouged and the FDA is a partner in crime by discouraging the importation of foreign pharmaceuticals.

Fentanyl is a huge topic right now and we blame the Mexican drug cartels. Mexico does not product the raw powder, China does. Without Chinese raws Mexico would not be able to produce enough raw powder and very cheap prices to supply the drug cartels.

Thanks Nelso!

Do you just order testosterone from a website and import it ?
I was wondering how I can get it cheaper as in Australia it’s expensive to be on trt compared to what sone Americans pay.

 

[BigTex]

No way. I have been doing this a long time and was lucky enough to come in contact with some very good sources. Know them for years. Some of the web site are legitimate but I would be very careful. I just picked up my script from the pharmacy Friday and they charged me $5 with Medicare. Can't beat this UG.

 

[BigTex]

Just wanted to add tis article on where our medications really come from.
As @Nelson Vergel posted above:

India accounts for 62%
China accounts for 23%
U.S. accounts for 4%

India’s $42 billion pharmaceutical sector is heavily dependent on China for key active pharmaceutical ingredients or API

India wants to be the 'pharmacy of the world.' But first, it must wean itself from China

Already the world's third-largest manufacturer of medicines by volume, India has one of the lowest manufacturing costs globally.

www.cnbc.com

So while we actually buy 23% of our pharmaceuticals from China, India is heavily dependent on the raw powders used in manufacturing their pharmaceutical products.

 

[sammmy]

I used to take 12.5mg zolpidem (generic Ambien) manufactured by Lupin, India. The tablet is supposedly "slow release" but is not releasing the drug, unless I chew it and hold it in mouth 10 mins. Otherwise, it was not working at all.

FDA is interested only that the generic contains the main drug, nobody actually tests or controls the delivery vehicle. If you read reviews of psychotropic drugs, many people complaining that generics, mostly from India, do not work as the brand name drug.

That is the back side of getting generics from India - nontested and nonregulated drug delivery excipients, hampering the drug effectiveness.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

I used to take 12.5mg zolpidem (generic Ambien) manufactured by Lupin, India. The tablet is supposedly "slow release" but is not releasing the drug, unless I chew it and hold it in mouth 10 mins. Otherwise, it was not working at all.

FDA is interested only that the generic contains the main drug, nobody actually tests or controls the delivery vehicle. If you read reviews of psychotropic drugs, many people complaining that generics, mostly from India, do not work as the brand name drug.

That is the back side of getting generics from India - nontested and nonregulated drug delivery excipients, hampering the drug effectiveness.

That's still vastly better than not having access to the drug at all, at least in most cases. There have also been plenty of problems with FDA-approved drugs such as Armour Thyroid and Vioxx, to name just two.

 

[BigTex]

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing to discuss important issues surrounding America’s pharmaceutical drug supply challenges. Though the subcommittee is right to give this issue the focus it deserves, there is one challenge in this regard that stands far out above the rest: our alarming dependence on Communist China for our supply of pharmaceutical drugs.

The COVID pandemic brought many of these difficulties to fruition as shutdowns in China caused shortages of key medical supplies in the United States. Around 80% “of the basic components used in U.S. drugs” come from China and India. Even many of the drugs that are imported to America from India and Europe are reliant on Chinese supply chains according to a recent report from The White House. Chinese pharmaceutical companies have supplied as much as 90 percent of the antibiotics, vitamin C, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone in the United States. If COVID disruptions could create havoc in the U.S. healthcare system, imagine the catastrophic consequences in an event of a conflict that completely shut down trade with China.

According to the head of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, China has stolen over $2.4 trillion in U.S. intellectual property (IP), including from American biotech.

ALEXANDER GRAY: Chinese Drugs Are America’s Most Dangerous Addiction

Last week, the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing to discuss important issues surrounding America’s pharmaceutical drug supply challenges.

dailycaller.com

 

[sammmy]

China and India have the commodities and the cheap labor. US Pharma has the capitalistic greed and desire to produce more at a a vanishing cost. The only way through this is to have good mutually beneficial trade relationships with China and India, not treating them as enemies or some kind of US colonies and imposing sanctions against them or telling them what to do. We see how far the "sanctions" got us with Russia.

Sanctions and tariffs will only achieve more shortages and healthcare collapse. Big Pharma will never return drug manufacturing back to US. On the other hand, any restriction on trade with China or India will just distance them from US and will make BRICS stronger, and the US leadership go down the drain.