Pakistan meets 80% of its domestic demand of medicines from

local production and 20% through imports. The market for

pharmaceuticals in Pakistan has been expanding at around 7-8%
annually over the last few years. Pakistan is also exporting its
surplus drugs to a large number of countries particularly to the
Asian and African regions with an expanding trade in the newly
emerged central Asian states, with almost no local manufacture of
medicines, offers an attractive market for industries located in
Pakistan.Pakistan has a very vibrant and forward looking Pharma
Industry. At the time of independence in 1947, there was hardly
any pharma industry in the country. Today Pakistan has about 400
pharmaceutical manufacturing units including those operated by
25 multinationals present in the country. Pharmaceutical Industry
is one of the major manufacturing industries in Pakistan providing
employment to thousands of people directly and indirectly
The National pharma industry has shown a progressive growth
over the years, particularly over the last one decade. Currently
the industry has the capacity to manufacture a variety of product
ranging from simple pills to sophisticated Biotech, Oncology and
Value Added Generic compounds.
The share of pharmaceutical sector in total exports of Pakistan is
approximately 0.6% in 2011 which is a decrease from 0.63% in
2010. The share of the Pakistani pharmaceutical sector in the
total exports of 6pharmaceutical products across the world is
0.03% approximately in 2011.
The pharmaceutical industry is considered the backbone of public
health services in Pakistan. This is strategically important both for
the well being of the population in general and for the provision of
good yet affordable healthcare in particular. The low cost of
production and the huge potential of this sector has attracted
major multinationals to establish their operations and production
facilities in Pakistan. Local (Pakistani) pharmaceutical companies
started in the 1960s but their growth increased in the 1980s.

During the last decade, they made substantial investments in

production facilities and introduced the latest technology along
with many new high quality products that were previously either
unavailable or available on a limited scale at very expensive
prices. By providing quality medicines at economical rates in this
fashion, Pakistani pharmaceutical companies have contributed
substantially towards public health.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS
Pakistan exports its surplus production to a number of countries.
This includes Asian countries and Afghanistan with a few of
central Asian countries being targeted now. As of 2012 data of
PBS, the total export value of Pakistani-manufactured medicines
around the world was at $400 million and these exports have
been increasing by an annual rate of 7% for the past five years.
Pakistan imports 95% of the basis raw materials from China, North
America, Europe, India and others. Of the exports of finished
drugs, 20% are imported from Switzerland.