ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s largest pharmaceuticals on Friday declared force majeure, a French term that describes uncontrollable events, regarding the production of Panadol, a critical over-the-counter drug.
In a filing to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the Pakistan unit of British multinational pharmaceutical said it has suspended the manufacturing of Panadol Tablets, Panadol Extra Tablets, and Children’s Panadol Liquid Range, maintaining it has become unsustainable to produce the cheap drug citing huge losses.
The development comes amid a severe shortage of Panadol in the market across different cities in Pakistan which has only worsened amid a dengue outbreak after deadly floods.
The pharma giant, which produces around 450 million tablets a month earlier slowed down production, announcing that it was no longer cost-effective, and now, in a regulatory filing to PSX, the company maintained it’s ‘forced to declare force majeure’.
It also mentioned that the incumbent authorities have not allowed an increase despite several appeals amid financial plights.
The company stated that despite thorough efforts to mitigate this matter through dialogue, the situation is now beyond our control, adding that the federal government was informed to maintain prices amid an extraordinary and rapid increase in the cost of raw materials.
It further called on authorities to take urgent action to rationalise the prices of the impacted Panadol range commensurate with the increase in the price of the impacted raw material.
One of the company’s high officials also recalled that the pharma giant produced nearly 5,400 million tablets of Panadol 500mg and Panadol Extra in the last year despite incurring financial losses.
Last month, it was reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed to provide of subsidies to the producers of Panadol and Paracetamol to make over-the-counter medicine affordable for the masses in wake of outbreaks of diseases after severe flooding.
Pakistan to subsidise Paracetamol, Panadol as price hike causes shortage amid huge demand
Paracetamol is among the top-selling medicines, with demand for the drug being the highest in wake of rising cases of mosquito-borne diseases, especially dengue fever and malaria, as cash strapped country struggles with the effects of the devastating floods.
