India-EU FTA may lower costs of novel drugs for Indian patients, medical equipment
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s landmark free trade deal with the European Union, finalised on Tuesday, includes significant tariff cuts on exports of pharmaceutical products as well as optical, medical and surgical equipment from Europe to India. Tariffs on pharmaceutical exports from Europe to India will drop to zero from 11% for almost all products.
This will improve access for Indian patients to novel drugs from Europe and reduce input costs for specialized raw material imported from Europe, industry executives said. Europe’s pharma exports to India amounted to €1.1 billion in 2024, according to a fact sheet released by the European Commission. “The expected removal of EU tariffs of up to 11% on pharmaceuticals will enhance trade and support greater access to innovative medicines for Indian patients," Sudarshan Jain, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, said in a statement.
“In the short term, we anticipate a mild price reduction of 10-20%, but the real impact will unfold over the next 2-3 years, with prices potentially dropping by 40-70% once local manufacturing scales up, biosimilars enter the market and patent expiries align," said Saurav Ojha, co-founder and director of Gurugram-based Iberia Pharmaceuticals. “This shift is particularly critical in the context of weight-loss drugs in the GLP-1 class such as semaglutide and tirzepatide. India imports drugs in the key therapy areas of oncology, biologics and monoclonal antibodies, insulin analogues and GLP-1 agonists as well as mRNA and viral vector vaccines from Europe.
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