An UNCTAD report now made available on the website suggests that a coherent framework linking local pharmaceutical production to greater access from the onset within countries is urgently called for to harness the full potential of local production capacities. Improvement in access to medicines in the context of local production should not be incidental but should be an explicit goal, the report says.
According to the report, with an appropriate institutional and policy framework in place, countries at different levels of development can build pharmaceutical production capacities by following different strategies that mirror their particular strengths.
A set of case studies produced by UNCTAD under a joint project with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) analyzes examples of selected pharmaceutical companies in Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand and Uganda and the elements needed for their relative successes.
The series of case studies represent a major deliverable under the WHO's 2008 Global Strategy and Plan of Action for Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property, where UNCTAD is a named stakeholder on issues of technology transfer and local production of pharmaceuticals.
From the examples presented, the studies show that:
Local pharmaceutical production can be undertaken in developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs).
Technology transfer has been an important factor in making production feasible and competitive.
Local production may, in certain instances, promote access to medicines.
The case studies find that the conditions under which local production was established and the technological capacities of the researched firms vary widely. Product lines range from simple inputs along the value chain (hard gelatin capsules in Ethiopia), to over-the-counter drugs in Colombia, to a wide range of generic drugs in Bangladesh and Indonesia, to more complex formulations such as antiretrovirals (ARVs) in Uganda, and to more advanced research and innovation in countries such as Argentina and Jordan.
Foreign investment through technology licensing, training and R&D cooperation proved essential in the creation of local capacities in all but one of the case studies. The role of intellectual property rights in this context varied with the priorities of the foreign investor (i.e. originator or generic firm). The most successful of the researched firms are characterized by well developed networks for R&D cooperation with academia and foreign partners and the availability of skilled human resources (e.g. the development of vaccines by the target company in Argentina), while the more modest examples have managed to establish themselves in niche markets (e.g. the production of soft gelatin capsules by the target company in Ethiopia).
The production of medicines and vaccines of special relevance for poor developing countries, such as ARVs and anti-malaria products in Uganda, could become increasingly important for public health security in these countries over time, as many of the major Indian generic producers continue shifting their attention to developed country markets and needs, the report contends.
