Local pharmaceutical companies are widening production of anti-cancer drugs, making those available at much lower prices in recent times, industry insiders said.
At present, according to them, five companies are manufacturing the life-saving drugs in the country and they have their plans to expand the same while some others were preparing to enter the market.
They said the present domestic market size of oncology (anti-cancer) drugs would be of around Tk 2.5 billion annually and was registering a growth of over 20 per cent per year.
With local companies gradually capturing half of the market share, the prices of many drugs declined substantially in the last couple of years. Earlier, the demands were met with imported drugs at much higher cost.
A local company, Beacon Pharmaceuticals Limited, which is now the market leader, started production of oncology drugs in 2009.
When contacted, its senior manager of Oncology and Biotech Division S M Mahmudul Haque Pallab said that the local companies were making great contribution to the oncology drugs market.
"We are making world class drugs in the country, which help patients buy the medicines at a very affordable price," he said.
For example, he continued, foreign companies sell an 80mg vial of Docetaxel at Tk 27,000 as compared to only Tk 9,500 for the same drug being produced by Beacon.
According to sources, Docetaxel (generic name) is a chemotherapy medication used to treat several types of cancer like breast cancer, prostate cancer, head and neck cancer, and stomach cancer. Chemotherapy is the most common method of cancer treatment.
Mr Pallab also said that Beacon at present manufactures 21 types of oral and 24 types of injectable chemotherapy. Of those, Paclitaxel, Carboplatin and Five Fluorouracil (5-FU) are some of the mostly used anti-cancer drugs, he added.
Beacon's oncology drugs are being used by patients of more than hundred countries including the UK, Turkey and China.
In response to a query regarding the challenges faced by the local companies, he said illegal import of such drugs by many traders is a barrier.
"Often many drugs are imported without maintaining proper temperature, which may harm the patients instead of curing," he said.
Even some little known companies produce fake oncology drugs, tarnishing the image of the local companies, he added.
Earlier, the physicians have not been motivated to prescribe the local drugs, he said, adding that the situation has improved a lot in recent times.
Considering the market prospect, the pioneering company was in the process of installing its oncology unit-2 in Gazipur's Valuka with state-of-the art production technology.
According to available data, there are 1.5 million to 1.6 million cancer victims in Bangladesh. Of them, around 44 per cent come to the capital city for the treatment.
Another local company, Techno Drugs Limited, started production of anti-cancer drugs in 2010.
Its assistant sales manager of oncology division Aminul Haque said the highest selling chemotherapy drugs manufactured by Techno are Capecitabine, Megestrol Acetate and Taxen (all are generic name).
These drugs have substantially helped reduce the prices than that of the foreign drugs.
For example, several years ago Docetaxel used to sell at more than Tk 60,000 per vial in Bangladesh, which is now available at TK 15,000 thanks to the competition created by the local companies.
Regarding the quality of local drugs, he said local companies follow the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) or United States Pharmacopeia (USP) for the production. The company is also set to export oncology drugs soon.
"We are going to export oncology drugs to several countries as we have recently signed agreement with foreign buyers, including China," said Mr Haque.
Established in 1996, the company is setting a new production facility in Gazipur on 39 bighas of land with a unit for oncology drugs.
Three other anti-cancer drugs makers are Drug International, Health Care Pharmaceuticals Limited and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Assistant manager of Incepta's Marketing Strategy Department Asif Mostafa said cancer medication is usually divided in three categories -- Chemotherapy, Targeted Therapy and Hormone Therapy.
Incepta entered into the oncology drugs market in late 2016, he said, adding that the company manufactures 8-10 items of targeted therapy.
Some of the targeted therapy medications are Sorafenib, Osimertinib, Lapatini and Ritoximab, being used for treatment of various types of cancer.
Explaining the role of local companies in reducing the cost, he said: "Breast cancer's treatment medication Pretuzumab is sold by a foreign company at a cost Tk 245,000, but Incepta sells it at Tk 60,000 only."
