State Buying Agency
Accordingly, in 1971 the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC) was established with Bibile as Chairman. The SPC channelled all imports and production of pharmaceuticals, calling for worldwide bulk tenders which were limited to the approved drugs listed in the CHF. The public and private health sectors had to obtain all their requirements from the SPC.
Hence the stranglehold of the Multinational corporations on the drug trade was successfully broken and they were made to compete with each other and with generic drug producers, enabling the country to obtain drugs much cheaper. Branded drugs were replaced by generic drugs in the prescription and sale of medicines.
In 1972 it imported 52 drugs at a third of their previous prices. In 1973, the SPC itself bought the raw material necessary for 14 private processing laboratories established in the island. Some drug prices dropped by half or two-thirds. The SPC bought from an Indian company the raw material necessary for a widely used tranquilliser at a much lower price than that charged by a Swiss multinational.
Read more about this topic: Sri Lanka National Pharmaceuticals Policy
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