KARACHI: An antidepressant named Xanax and a much-used medicine for cold and fever named Panadol CF are mostly unavailable at retail stores and are being sold at around five times higher than their reported retail prices.
“Retail price of Xanax (1mg) is 436 rupees. The company supplies it to us with a limited quota. There was a time when company supplied to us five packs a week. Then they reduced it to three, then to two and then once a week. And later, they supplied only two a month and then one. Now there is no supply,” a medical shopkeeper told Pakistan Today. He added that recently, low dosed Xanax (0.5mg) has also been short in the market.
“Only Xanax (0.25mg) is available,” he added.
The shopkeeper further stated that there were people from the wholesale market who would come to the store and offered as high as Rs2,000 for a box of Xanax (1mg) when the company was supplying it. “They must be selling at a higher price than Rs2,000, for which they have been buying from local retail drug stores,” he said and added that there’s some order from Afghanistan for the drug.
He also said that GSK’s Panadol CF has also been short in the market. The retail price of the box of Panadol CF is Rs250 but it has been selling at Rs1,000 to 1,200. A container has also recently been intercepted being smuggled to UAE, and according to sources the drugs were mainly Xanax, he added.
Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) CEO Dr Muhammad Aslam said that the drugs, which were being smuggled to UAE, were being assessed whether they were original or counterfeit. He added that if the drugs were original, then it has to be assessed whether they were being smuggled by people from the wholesale market or by the company itself.
He told Pakistan Today that Xanax is a controlled drug and Pakistan Narcotics Board allowed the company to produce a limited amount. “This restriction is very important to control and limit misuse of the drug by the general public,” he added.
Xanax and other such antidepressants are supposed to be sold only after being prescribed by a doctor. However, these drugs are being misused and a person, who consumes it, becomes addicted to it. However, according to sources, Xanax, with a generic Alprazolam, is generally prescribed to aged patients.
“These patients would only ask for Xanax and wouldn’t buy an alternative, even with the same formula of some other company. They would buy Xanax no matter how high the price is. They would even buy the tablets at price higher than 2,000,” a source said.
DRAP CEO further said that the sales of drugs fall under the purview of provincial drug regulatory authorities, whereas DRAP’s function is to focus on registration and manufacturing of drugs. Moreover, he added that the medicines were being smuggled in and out of Pakistan at the Afghanistan border.
“Indian medicines also make it to Pakistan markets through Afghanistan,” he said.
Muhammad Aslam also said, “There has also been a demand for Indian medicines in Pakistan because they are much cheaper,” he said and added, “But the first question is whether those Indian medicines are original or counterfeit.”
