Pakistan’s drug regulator denies price hike, calls supply chain satisfactory
DRAP says no new price hikes approved as regional tensions raise supply concerns across Pakistan
Pakistan – (Web Desk) – Pakistan’s medicine regulator DRAP pushed back on Sunday against news reports claiming drug prices have gone up. The authority called those reports “factually incorrect.” It also said medicine and medical device supplies look fine for the months ahead.
The situation comes at a tough time. A US-Israeli war on Iran started on February 28 and has badly disrupted shipping and energy supplies around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has since hit back by targeting US interests and oil infrastructure across Gulf countries.
Many people in the medicine industry said this week that drug prices have been rising unusually fast since February. But the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said prices of essential medicines have not changed. This is even as fuel costs have jumped by more than 20 percent.
One specific case got a lot of attention. Noor Muhammad Mehr from the Pakistan Drug Lawyers Forum said the insulin pen HumaPen Ergo II now costs 114 percent more than before.
DRAP had a different explanation though. It said the prices people are seeing are not new prices at all. They are old Maximum Retail Prices already printed on medicine packs made back in 2024 or 2025. The regulator says these prices are being misread as recent hikes when they are actually not.
“The Authority confirms that no new price increase has been approved for essential medicines in recent months and pharmaceutical manufacturers are strictly prohibited from implementing unilateral price hikes for any product listed on the National Essential Medicines List (NEML).”
DRAP said it was proactively monitoring the availability of drugs and had conducted a comprehensive review of supply chain of medicines and medical devices and found it “satisfactory for coming months.”
“About 85 percent of medicines consumed in Pakistan are manufactured locally and unaffected by current geographical disputes including Middle Eastern airspace and sea route disruptions,” it said.
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It said it had issued adviseries to all manufacturers to have contingency planning and directed firms to adopt “multiple sourcing strategies” and “geographically diverse channels” to further strengthen supply chain resilience.
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