Prices of antibiotics like Mox, Augmentin, Sporidex, Zef to go up by 50% in India

Prices of some widely prescribed antibiotics like amoxicillin (Mox), ampicillin and cloxacillin and cephalexin (Sporidex) may go up as much as 50% in India as the government is proposing to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Mexican imports of raw materials used in the manufacture of these drugs.

Penicillin-G and 6-APA the key raw materials used in the formulationg of amoxicillin and cephalexin antibiotics may have to bear additional duties while getting imported from the leading manufacturers in China and Mexico as part of the government’s effort to protect domestic producers.

The government is planning to slap over $16-18 per kg on 6-APA imported from Chinese and Mexican companies and over $3.3-3.8 per billions of unit (BOU), for Pen G,as anti-dumping duty, reports said.

Chinese and Mexican 6-APA and pen G are currently available at about $25 per kg and at $7.5 per BOU for domestic manufacturers, reports said.

While the commerce ministry has proposed the provisional duty to protect the interests of manufacturers who make penicillin-G and 6-APA in India, the additional duty burden could only push up the prices of these large-selling antibiotics by creating short-supply, industry sources said.

Prices of brands using penicillin-G such as amoxycillin, ampicillin and cloxacillin could raise upto 50% while cost of cephalosporin based antibiotics which used 6-APA may go high as muc as 35 to 40% coul

Besides Ranbaxy’s Mox, GSK’s Augmentin, Biochem’s Biomoxil and Cipla’s Novamox are some of the leading brand names that use penicillin-G derived amoxycillin in India.

GlaxoSmithKlines Phexin, Lupin’s Caceff, Ranbaxy’s Sporidex, Biochem’s Cephaxin, FDC’s Zef are among the cephalexin brands.

Penicillin-G and 6-APA are produced only by companies in India Alembic of Baroda, Gujarat and  Chennai-based Spic. Alembic has facilities to produce both penicillin-G and 6-APA while Spic makes only pen G.

Penicillin-G and 6-APA produced in Alembic and Spic facilities may not be sufficient to meet India’s current demand and which could result in shortage of medicines like Mox, Augmentin, Sporidex etc.

The market for medicines made from pen G and 6-APA is currently estimated around Rs 3,000 crore contributing to nearly 7% of the total retail market. Penicillin-G and 6-APA requirement in the country is pegged at 200 tonnes and Alembic and Spic can together produce around 15-20% of the the volumes, reports said quoting industry sources.

The government has reported taken the decision to impose the duties following complaints from Alembic and Spic that low-priced Chinese penicillin-G and 6-APA are harming their business interests and several manufacturers of these raw materials were forced to shut down operations due to cheaper imports.

The provisional duties, however, suggested by the commerce ministry on penicillin-G and 6-APA needs to be approved by the finance ministry before imposing as duty.

The government has given 40 days to file complaints on the issues for the stake holders.