Exploring the Effectiveness of Pakistan’s Competition Law in Mitigating Price Manipulation and Trade Barriers in the Pharmaceutical Market

The pharmaceutical sector of Pakistan has a significant contribution and function in the Pakistani health system by providing various medicine and health products. It is also a sector where tenders rig the market, engage in restrictive trade practices defeating the objective of competition to sell drugs at exorbitant prices and limit access to affordable prices. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) was established in 2007 pursuant to the Competition Act, 2010 which aimed at checking anti-competitive activities, distorting the price and practicing restraints on trade. This research is designed to explore the CCP’s role in addressing price fixing and trade restrictive practices in the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan with reference to its enforcement measures, difficulties and efficiency. The regulation of the market by CCP, its key case related to drug prices and its regulation, and perspectives of the major stakeholders shall be examined in the context of the identified problems and the propositions for improvements in CCP’s role towards its vision of a competitive pharma market. The case study underneath this research is therefore informed by use of qualitative research approaches that included Cases studies, Interviews with officials and key stakeholders and review of documents; this research aims at establishing an understanding on how the competition law in Pakistan affects the pharmaceutical sector and public health.

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of interactive performance measurement systems on the employees’ psychological empowerment in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Methodology: This research used a survey and the respondents were medical representative/detailer employees in the pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan. Data was collected from 390 responding out of 650 distributed questionnaires and analyzed by using Smart PLS.
 Main Findings: The outcomes of this study showed that the interactive performance measurement system has a positive and significant impact on the employees’ psychology in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Applications of the study: This research showed that the interactive performance measurement system is a tool that can open the communication network between the managers and the employees which must be supported by maximum employees’ psychological empowerment so that can reach the company’s vision and mission, especially for the medical representative/detailer in the pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.
 Novelty/Originality of the study: This research showed how important psychological empowerment is for lower-middle level employees especially for the medical representative/detailer in order to improve the company’s performance by using the interactive performance measurement system in a pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.

Aim: This is a review article, which focused upon Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry. This industry has fallen into the trap of our country’s buckwheat. Basically, it’s the main concern of pharmaceutical industries of Pakistan, one of the present standing position or top most sold products. Method: This is a comparison between industry from start to form or global level. It has been a detailed review of Pakistan’s import and export products over the years. This article gives an overview on APIs, how they are synthesized and major exporters of APIs. Drugs formulations are also discussed in it. Formulation of drugs are solid, liquid and semi solid. Moreover, it also focused at the limitations and strengths of the factors that are important in determining the strength. Results: The pharmaceutical business has a strong capacity for innovation, and governments should conduct studies and encourage discussion on how to improve this capacity without endangering public health. Practical implication: The strength of each pharmaceutical industry based upon quality goods, providing values, services excellence.There are concerns about the current rules in Pakistan for evaluating the quality of pharmaceuticals raw materials (APIs).The pharmaceutical industry strengths could include low operating overhead, firm fiscal management, low staff turnover, high return on investment (ROI), state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and an experienced research staff. Conclusion: The medical system in a country is crucially dependent on the pharmaceutical sector. This study's goal was to shed light on Pakistan's entire pharmaceutical sector, including startups, imports, exports, and detail of APIs. The pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is still in its early stages, but it has managed to establish a small presence in Asia-Pacific market. Keywords: Brands, Ointment, ROI, spurious drugs and PIDB

This manuscript examines the ethics of the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and practising physicians. The pharmaceutical industry is alleged to provide incentives to physicians and who in return are expected to prescribe their manufactured medications. Such practices are often considered unethical and against the rules and regulations of the regulatory bodies. The core issue facing physicians and pharmaceutical industry relationships is lack of regulation and accountability. Public education and awareness are lacking, and they are unable to question prescription practices of practicing physicians. Patient advocacy groups do not exist to safeguard the patient's rights. There is a need to strengthen regulatory control to ensure the physician community and pharmaceutical industry relationship remains ethical. Both the physician community and pharmaceutical industry are important stakeholders in healthcare delivery and the ethical relationship between them will benefit health care services. Further discussion and debate on this important yet extremely sensitive issue is strongly recommended.

The widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Industry 4.0 can improve the work efficiency of doctors and help more patients. The application direction of AI in pharmaceutical logistics can be roughly divided into two types: First, AI technology empowers intelligent devices, and second, it improves labor efficiency through software systems. This article summarizes the digital development of the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, the European Union, and Japan, analyzes the current status and shortcomings of digital development in Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry, and proposes digital development strategies for Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry. The development of the domestic Internet has promoted the reform and progress of the pharmaceutical industry, but the policy development of digital applications needs to catch up. The digital transformation of the pharmaceutical industry faces problems such as the need for digital technology support for new drug research and development, medical data security problems, and the need for service platform construction for pharmaceutical enterprises. Finally, this article provides feasible suggestions for the better application of AI technology in Pakistan’s pharmaceutical industry by reviewing the research status, development trends, and development bottlenecks of AI technology in this area.

ObjectiveDigital marketing is replacing traditional marketing strategies in the pharmaceutical industry. This study evaluated multiple aspects of the use of social media by the physicians of Pakistan, the current role of digital marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, and its impact on the change in clinical practice.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included physicians working in various clinical settings with at least five years of clinical experience. The participants were surveyed on social media tools used, knowledge of digital marketing tools, and the digital presence of themselves as physicians. We also assessed their knowledge of digital marketing by the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan and its potential influence on changes in their clinical practice.ResultsSeven hundred eighteen physicians were included after taking informed consent. The mobile application WhatsApp (WhatsApp Inc., Menlo Park, CA) was the most frequently used application per week for medical-related purposes. Webinars/webcasts had the highest duration of use per week but were attended by only a few physicians, followed by mobile applications and informative health websites. The most frequently available digital marketing channels were found to be WhatsApp (29.94%), informative health websites (26.7%), and mobile applications (20.6%). Less frequently available tools were e-detailing (8.1%), webinars/webcasts (7.7%), tele-detailing (6.0%), self-directed web-detailing (5.2%), and marketing emails (4.2%). However, despite the limited use, webinars/webcasts had the strongest influence for changes in clinical practice (48%), followed by websites (42%), mobile applications (41%), WhatsApp (37%), and self-directed web-detailing (36%).ConclusionDespite limited use, the percentage of influence for clinical practice changes was highest for webinars/webcasts followed by websites, mobile applications, and WhatsApp. There is potential for increased use of digital promotion strategies from Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector.

Learning outcomes This case was written to help students develop their analytical and decision-making skills with regard to sales force evaluation. It identifies a variety of issues – in the Pakistani context particularly – within the sales force environment, including union representation, sales force team conflicts and power dynamics between superiors and subordinates. The various case lessons will enhance students’ analytical, negotiation and team-management skills. This case can be used to discuss the following issues: the complexity of objective and subjective evaluations of a sales force, sales force perceptions and cultural nuances for succeeding in Pakistan. Distribution structures and management in Pakistan. Characteristic features of the Pakistani pharmaceutical market. Students will be able to explain how salesperson performance information can be used to identify problems, determine their causes and suggest sales management actions to solve them. Students will be able to differentiate between an outcome-based and a behaviour-based perspective for evaluating and controlling salesperson performance. Students will understand how to control one’s behaviour in conflict situations by identifying common interests and achieving a “win-win” situation. Case overview/synopsis The Al-Ain case describes sales force management and sales force evaluation in a situation that involves a high-performing team operating in a hostile environment. Al-Ain eye centre (Al-Ain), located in the city of Karachi in Sindh state of Southern Pakistan, is a small-scale hospital that has diversified into the pharmaceutical business. Al-Ain’s product portfolio includes analgesics, antibiotics, ophthalmology products and cardiology products. This case focusses on team management and the relationship between a sales manager and subordinate salespeople in the context of Pakistani culture. A sales representative has received a poor performance assessment, which he perceives to be an unfair evaluation of his efforts. As a result of the situation, he subsequently joins a union and creates problems for his superiors. As they explore these management issues within a sales force, students will develop an appreciation for objective methods of sales force evaluation, as well as for the complexity of handling high-performing teams, the importance of employee perceptions and the scope of subjective biases in sales force evaluation that can emerge in practice. Complexity academic level The case is suited to undergraduate or MBA courses on sales management, organizational behaviour, distribution management, marketing/strategy and pharmaceutical industries. It addresses issues of sales force management, sales territory allocations, sales target fixation, team conflict, promotion, team bonus and distribution management in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

The pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is worth around US$1.18 billion, with annual growth in 2010 approaching 10 per cent (Khan, 2012). There are more than 650 registered companies, including 31 multinationals, which in 2006 had a market share in value terms of 53.3 per cent, with national firms controlling the remaining 46.7 per cent (IMS Health, 2007). In 2007 medicines worth about US$100 million were exported. Medicines are a vital component of healthcare, and Pakistan spends around three-quarters of its healthcare budget on medicines (WHO, 2004). This chapter provides an overview, from a public health perspective, of the national pharmaceutical market and the development of drug policies and regulation. Pakistan adopted a Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)- compliant patent regime in 2000, and the intersection between patents and public health is a central policy challenge. This chapter highlights key issues related to intellectual property, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and production and access to medicines.KeywordsIntellectual PropertyNational Health PolicyWorld Trade OrganizationFree Trade AgreementPharmaceutical PolicyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Enhancements of ’Competition Culture’ in Pharmaceutical Sector: Anti-Competitive Infringements and Consumer Welfare

With the ongoing trade normalisation process between India and Pakistan, opportunities to integrate have opened up between both countries. The pharmaceutical sector is crucial to health issues in developing economies and would be an ideal segment to focus on in improving trade relations between the two countries. Here, an empirical and theoretical analysis of India–Pakistan trade using some statistical indicators reveals low levels of current trade but huge trade potential. Since China has virtually dominated the trade scene in nearly all manufacturing sectors, this study also looks at the tripartite dynamics of trade in pharmaceutical items among India, Pakistan and China. An analysis of the China–Pakistan and the South Asia Free Trade Area Agreements reveals that while Pakistan does not give any favourable treatment to China in items on Pakistan’s negative/sensitive list for India, there is some indication that the favourable tariff treatment to China in general may have affected India’s low trade in pharmaceutical products with Pakistan. The study further argues that the opening up of the Pakistan pharmaceutical market to India would lead to an increase in consumer surplus, given the advantages of competition. Since many items are already imported from China, the argument that India’s imports would stifle domestic producers seems misplaced. Hence, non-discriminatory access to Indian products seems reasonable. A positive start could be the phasing out of Pakistan’s negative list. The incorporation of trigger mechanisms would help appease the apprehensions of the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan about an influx of pharmaceutical items from India. Discussions with some major Pakistan pharmaceutical producers indicated that normalising trade would also provide external economies in areas like R&D and standards. In some areas, the benefits could flow to Indian producers. In this context, it seems necessary to establish a process for establishing mutual recognition agreements (MRAs), which would improve product quality in both countries. Finally, since FDI is just another way of doing trade, it seems necessary to explore the possibilities here at least to boost future trade prospects. Some harmonisation of FDI policies may be warranted.

This study has been conducted to probe the relationships among job satisfaction, supervisory support, organizational commitment and employee retention in the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. Based on an extensive literature review an instrument was adopted from different studies. Study respondents were employees of the pharmaceutical sector in the four big cities: Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Peshawar. Responses of total 260 employees of the pharmaceutical industry were recorded and analyzed. After analysis of collected responses using SPSS and AMOS, it has been concluded that organizational commitment, supervisory support and Job satisfaction of employees has a significant positive impact on Employee retention. Supervisory support is the top most important variable in the retention of employees. Job satisfaction has the least impact on employee retention. Findings of the study can be implemented in the pharmaceutical sector and other economic sectors as well for retention of employees. This study is beneficial for the practitioners as it’s the empirical evidence of a widely used management statement that “People don’t leave companies, they leave the managers.”

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Financial Performance (FP) of pharmaceutical sector companies listed in Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). According to published data of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), a total of 9 pharmaceutical companies are reported in this sector. In order to achieve the purpose, data has been collected of three years from 2014 to 2016 from annual reports of the companies. In this study the spending on Education, Healthcare and Environment, Donation, and Workers Welfare Fund used as proxy for CSR measurement, while three proxies of Donation, Earning per Share (EPS), Return on Assets (ROA), and Return on Equity (ROE) as measurement of financial performance. Data has been analyzed using Panel Least Square Fixed Effect Regression. The findings s of the study revealed that there is positive impact of CSR on Financial Performance of the companies. It is evident that to boost the financial performance, the CSR phenomenon is an essential tool for growth in pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan.

The ultimate goal of all activities within organizations is to achieve higher growth and finding new sources for mounting firm capital. This study aims to investigate debt capacity as the source of firm capital and its impact on firm’s growth. The objectives of this research to shows the relationship between market to book ratio and debt to asset ratio. Multiple liner regression is used between Growth and book leverage. By selected pharmaceutical sector that has been listed at Karachi stock exchange in Pakistan. In this research 8 companies are selected that are listed at Karachi Stock Exchange during the period of 2005-2014. In this paper secondary data is used. The result reveals a significant positive relationship between the debt to asset ratio and market to book ratio and debt to asset ratio. It displays that there is no negative effect of debt capacity on firm’s growth.

The annual growth rate of pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is 10% and is continuously expanding to fulfill the increasing demand of the rapidly growing population. But inability of the pharmaceutical sector to comply with the environmental standards leads to the introduction of large quantities of various pollutants in the natural environment which presents serious ecological challenges. In this study, effluent wastewater samples from 14 manufacturing units of the pharmaceutical industries of the National Industrial Zone, Rawat, Pakistan, were collected and characterized for physicochemical parameters including color, odor, pH, electric conductivity, temperature, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, salinity, dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrates, sulfates and phosphates according to the standard methods. The detection and quantification of diclofenac (DCF)—one of the commonly prescribed drugs in Pakistan—were carried out in the pharmaceutical wastewater samples (PWWSs) using HPLC-PAD. Exceptionally high concentration of the diclofenac was detected in the industrial disposal of MB-12 (311,495 µg L−1). PWWSs were analyzed using chemometric techniques including principal factor analysis (PFA) and cluster analysis (CA). PFA explained almost 81.48% of the total variance by the newly extracted four components and complemented the strong Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) of DCF concentrations to that of the levels of COD, r = 0.752, and DO, r = − 0.609, in PWWSs. Six clusters were generated during similar wastewater characteristics-based CA dendrogram, in which reverse osmosis-treated PWWSs were observed to cluster with the untreated PWWSs, suggesting the need to adopt an advance and better wastewater treatment methods by the pharmaceutical industries.

This study attempts to create a model, which explain the relationship between different elements of marketing mix with special reference to pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan. All the four P’s have been discussed at length to understand the unique characteristics of pharmaceutical marketing mix, and the differences they possess as compared to general marketing. This study forms the basis of developing more detailed text for pharmaceutical marketing.