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The government will select more pharmaceutical firms to participate in its Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) for over 50 bulk drugs by the end of February, Department of Pharmaceuticals Secretary S. Aparna said Monday.
The Centre has announced the companies selected so far to manufacture four crucial bulk drugs—penicillin G, 7-ACA, erythromycin thiocyanate and clavulanic acid.
“The others (bulk drugs) are coming up for our next meeting of the Empowered Committee,” said the secretary, addressing the sixth edition of the India Pharma and India Medical Devices Conference. “We hope to be able to dispose of the other applications by the end of February. That’s our planning,” she added.
The PLI scheme — which aims to boost the country’s self-reliance in the production and supply of 53 crucial drug ingredients — came amid rising tensions with China, on which India is heavily reliant for imported bulk drugs. Under the scheme, companies are encouraged by the government to make these critical bulk drugs, as they would receive monetary incentives on the annual sales of these products.
At Rs 3,600 crore, the four bulk drugs for which companies had already been announced account for over half of the Rs 6,940 crore scheme, said Aparna. The remaining drugs for which applications are being reviewed include antibiotics like ciprofloxacin, blood pressure drug telmisartan and para-amino phenol, the ingredient used to make paracetamol.
