Pharma Veterans

Formation of PharmEx Pakistan – Too Late, Too Little? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1123 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1123 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. PPMA Delegation in Meeting with Minister of Commerce Preamble The Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan has finally rose up to the idea of supporting pharmaceutical export from Pakistan. Jam Kamal Khan, Minister of Commerce reaffirmed the government’s resolve to boost pharmaceutical export and announced the near-operational launch of PharmEx Pakistan – a new Pharma Export Promotion Council – under the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan. Formation of PharmEx Pakistan From the news, it shows that Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Chairman Mr. Touqeerul Haq made a presentation during a meeting in wh...

Five AI Trends to Watch in 2025 (and Beyond) – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1061 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1061 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Brett Sayles Credit: Christina Morillo Credit: Ron Lach This post is inspired by an article by Rob Howard of https://innovatingwithai.com and PWC report. Link at the end. Preamble I keep returning to the topic of AI because it is the most happening field right now and shall remain so for the next several years.  According to PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper) global report, Artificial Intelligence shall cause to increase global GDP by 14% in 2030. This will be the equivalent of additional $15.7 trillion. The report highlights that: • Labor productivity improvements will drive initial GDP gains as firms seek to augment the productivity of ...

Three Important Tech Stories of 2024 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1050 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1050 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com for publishing our contributions here. Credit: Tara Winstead Credit: Darlene Anderson Credit: Mizuno K Credit: Moose Photos Preamble Year 2024 saw revolutionary changes in various areas of technology. Most notable were in the field of or related to Artificial Intelligence – AI. Many people are writing about technology every day or week, and mostly on AI. I read a few regularly and I have come to like a short daily newsletter from Martin Crowley and Liam Lawson, titled ‘AI Tool Report’. This blogpost is also based on it. Link at the end. Top 3 Stories of 2024 #1 – Open AI Launches First Reasoning Model – o1 In September 2024, OpenAI launched its first reasoning models—o1-preview (for general users...

Healthcare Landscape in Pakistan – Sum Up – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #987 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #987 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Ahmet Kurt Credit: Anna Shvets Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko This is the 12th blog post on the topic of healthcare in this series. I have talked about all major stakeholders, their roles, and their issues. It is time to sum up the entire discussion, hence this post. Rather than summing up all the points discussed so far, I shall talk about the impact of various stakeholders on the healthcare system in Pakistan. I shall focus on the system itself under various heads. Strengths Pakistan can rightly claim to have a highly developed, elaborate healthcare system among low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). There are separate, dedicated institutes for...

Healthcare Landscape in Pakistan – Regulatory Structure – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 981 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 981 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Edward Jenner Credit: Andrea Piacquadio Credit: Imad Clicks As is the case in other government functions, there are several institutions who are supposed to regulate various components of healthcare. After 18th Amendment, health was devolved to provinces. So, now there are federal and provincial bodies supposed to regulate healthcare. The state of healthcare, however, is anything but satisfactory. The major reason is that the regulatory bodies do not coordinate with one another and keep blowing their own trumpets without achieving anything concrete. The biggest problem with government agencies and particularly regulatory bodies is th...

Withdrawal of Medicines is Quite Common – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #884 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #884 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans  aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Anna Shvets Credit: Polina Tankilevich Credit: Wesley Davi My first experience with the withdrawal of a medicine was just a few months after I started working in 1975. We had an injectable antibiotic Reverin (rolitetracycline) which had two variations: intravenous and intramuscular. One day, we received the instructions that the product was being withdrawn and that we had to go to every pharmacy in our area, count the physical stock of the product, and make a credit note, one copy for the pharmacy and one for the office. It was not a widespread product...

Pain Points of Pharma Industry Pakistan – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #829 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #829 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba Photo Credit: Mikhail Nilov Photo Credit: Thirdman Pharma Industry in Pakistan is going through difficult times, and it is not just due to Pak rupee devaluation or rising cost of production. There are several pain points, some gathered internally over time, and some brought on by government policies and circumstances.  Let us talk about three major pain points. I may add here that pharma industry also has a role in getting pain inflicted on it.  Pricing  Without doubt, it is the biggest pain point. And the main responsibil...

Pharmaceutical Industry Challenges Today – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #822 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #822 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Pavel Danilyuk Photo Credit: Max Mishin Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko The pharmaceutical industry faces several significant challenges in today's dynamic and complex landscape. These challenges have implications for research and development, regulatory compliance, market access, pricing, patient safety, and public perception. Here are some key challenges currently faced by the pharmaceutical industry, not just in Pakistan, but all over the world. Our market is different in the sense that we manufacture only generic products, and our R&D is ...

Ethics and Pharmaceutical Industry – Sum Up – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #798 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #798 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: cottonbro studio Photo Credit: Karolina Grabowska Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko Several posts were published under this topic, but each post was complete in itself. This is the last post. Sum Up Let us start with a question. Pharmaceutical business is like any other business, why should there be so much emphasis on ethics here? There are two responses to this. One, two businesses touch lives life like no other business; food and drugs. Food gives health and bad food can give disease, which may require treatment. Generally, an imminent threat...