Pharmexcil Urges Government Intervention to Secure Critical Chemical Supplies and Prevent Drug Shortages
India’s Pharmexcil has urgently called on the government to allocate critical petrochemical feedstocks like propylene and methanol to solvent and API manufacturers. Supply disruptions due to the West Asia conflict have caused critically low inventories, threatening severe medicine shortages. Pharmexcil Chairman Namit Joshi emphasized that diverting these essential chemicals to solvent producers is vital to maintain pharmaceutical production, as current stocks are negligible, impacting the entire manufacturing chain and risking medicine availability for domestic and export markets.
The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) has issued an urgent plea to the government, advocating for the prioritized allocation of vital petrochemical feedstocks, including propylene, methanol, ammonia, and butane. These raw materials are indispensable for solvent manufacturers and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) producers. The industry body reports that inventories of these chemicals have fallen to critically low levels, a direct consequence of supply chain disruptions exacerbated by the ongoing West Asia conflict. This precarious situation raises significant concerns about potential widespread shortages in pharmaceutical production.Pharmexcil Chairman Namit Joshi highlighted the severe implications, warning that a failure by solvent manufacturers to quickly restore supplies could lead to serious disruptions across the pharmaceutical sector. Solvents, derived from these petrochemical feedstocks, are fundamental to manufacturing APIs and intermediates for numerous essential medicines. Industry experts corroborate these difficulties, noting that API manufacturers are already struggling to source solvents due to the Middle East crisis impacting global supply chains.India's pharmaceutical industry requires approximately 55,000 metric tons of these key starting materials monthly, with 20% met through imports now severely constrained by geopolitical tensions. To mitigate the emerging crisis, industry stakeholders are urging the government to divert existing petrochemical supplies towards solvent manufacturers specifically serving the pharmaceutical sector. Initial government focus was on LPG, but the situation for other pharma-critical petrochemical derivatives has become dire, with solvent producers reporting negligible inventory. Timely policy intervention is deemed crucial to safeguard India’s robust pharmaceutical production capabilities and ensure the uninterrupted availability of medicines for both domestic consumption and export markets.
