Prices of drugs go up as supplies hit by China Covid crisis, Russia-Ukraine war

PRAYAGRAJ: The Covid-19 crisis in China hitting imports of raw materials used in pharmaceutical companies and Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupting supply of aluminium foil/sheets, which are used in packaging medicines, the prices of essential medicines have started going up sharply.
Russia is the biggest exporter of aluminium foil or sheet which are also used for packaging of tablets, syrups, medicine strips, etc., it has left its impact on the prices of medicines, traders in Prayagraj said.
President of Allahabad Chemist & Druggist Association, Anil Dubey told TOI, “Prices of aluminium foil or sheets have gone up at least three times in the past 45 days. Aluminium foil has superior barrier properties and moisture, oxygen and other gases as well as micro-organisms and light impenetrable and helps to keep medication in perfect condition for a longer time period. As a result, it remains the material of choice for pharma industries.”
“The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has adversely impacted the drug packing sector. In fact, hardly a few companies in India have managed to cope up with the rising price and demand of the packing material — aluminium foil. Rising packing cost along with other factors like rising prices of raw materials and fuel has also dented the pocket of the customers,” he added.
Moreover, rising cases of coronavirus infection in neighbouring China has also left its impact on the supply of raw materials required for drug production.
He claimed that overall prices of medicines have gone up 20%-25% in the past two months.
Furthermore, some life-saving drugs are being imported to foreign countries.
Dubey said, “Prices of many life-saving and important drugs like paracetamol, povidone-iodine solution, cefpodoxime, proxetil, dispersible tablets, amoxycillin capsules, ranitidine hydrochloride tablets, cefixime tablets and others have gone up 20%-25% in the past two months.