In Bangladesh the pharmaceutical sector is one of the most developed hi-tech sectors which is contributing in the country’s economy.

After the promulgation of Drug Control Ordinance – 1982, the development of this sector was accelerated. The professional knowledge, thoughts and innovative ideas of the pharmacists working in this sector are the key factors for this developments.

Due to recent development of this sector it is exporting medicines to global market including European market. This sector is also providing 97% of the total medicine requirement of the local market.

Leading pharmaceutical companies are expanding their business with the aim to expand export market. Recently few new industries have been established with high tech equipments and professionals which will enhance the strength of this sector.

The export value of pharmaceuticals, though small, is growing at 50 per cent per year. Exports increased from $8.2 million in 2004 to $28.3 million in 2007 and expanded further in last two of years. The export destinations have now risen from 37, to 72 countries during the period.

The inception in the 1950s was small, with a handful local and multinational companies producing medicines in the then East Pakistan. By 1982, many top ranking multinationals established their manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has potential to grow and compete in the international market. Its ability to comply otherwise with the guidelines of quality assurance provides it the competitive advantage.

Most companies follow the good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, set by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bangladesh can compete with countries like India, China, Brazil and Turkey in the international export market due to its quality compliance. If enjoys the exemption limit until 2016 under the provisions of the World Trade Organisation with regard to generic, patients and other related matters. The ability of the Bangladesh industry is otherwise undisputed about achieving excellence.

The country exports high-tech specialised products like HFA, inhalers, suppositories, hormones, steroids, oncology, immunosuppressant products, nasal sprays, injectibles and IV infusions. The local pull of demand for medicines set the industry in a second footing.

The industry produces quality medicines for millions of people in Bangladesh. Almost self-reliant in pharmaceutical products, the industry meets 97 per cent of national demand for medicines.

Epidemics like malaria, dengue, cholera and typhoid, no more kill as many people in Bangladesh as they once did. Affordability and availability of medicines contributed to the achievement.

Bangladesh tops South Asia with its average life expectancy of 61 years though per capita consumption of medicines is one of the lowest in the region. Over 50 new factories came up in last three years, of which about two dozen took to aggressive marketing. Out of 230 companies, 200, including five multinationals, have their manufacturing facilities.

At least 21 companies produce 41 active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). To feed the local industry, more API industries are needed. The recent approval, as was reported in a section of the media, to a 30 billion dollar API industrial park in Munshiganj will inject fresh momentum to the pharmaceutical industry. Bangladesh can save at least 70 per cent of expenditure on raw materials when the API part goes into production.

Bangladesh imports 80 per cent of its pharmaceutical raw materials. A good number of skilled professionals from home and abroad are expected to join the industry to enrich its human resources pool.

The country can continue to produce patented products until 2016 as per trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS). The industry is legally permitted to reverse engineer, manufacture and sell generic versions of on-patent pharmaceutical products for domestic consumption as well as for export to other LDCs. It created a big opportunity to make Bangladesh a new chemical entity. Bangladesh can share its long years of experience in pharmaceutical formulation and marketing with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and developing ones, who need it. Opportunities have been created in Bangladesh for bioequivalence study, validation report, clinical trials and manufacturing plant audit mechanism.

For bio equivalency tests alone in Singapore, Malaysia or in European countries Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry has to spend a lot of money now. These sub-sectors would need more investment in future. The industry created opportunities for foreign direct investment.

Over $250 million invested in the sector, has helped modernize and create new facilities.

The investment has helped the companies get certification from the international regulatory bodies.

Now,  Bangladeshi companies are in a situation to export pharmaceutical products to any part of the world.

Source Bangladesh’s software industry marked an impressive 33 percent growth in export in the last fiscal year (2008-09) that ended in June this year, as many western and European firms shifted focus on the South Asian country for low-cost IT services, sector insiders said Sunday.
They said a healthy chunk of 32.91 million U.S. dollars export earnings of the industry in the last fiscal year (July 2008- June 2009) came from computer software developmental services.

President of Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS), Habibullah N Karim, told reporters at a press conference Sunday that the country has already become a large ground of potential human resources with bright aptitude, quality and natural ability in software development.

The BASIS, national trade association of software & IT services companies of Bangladesh, organized the press conference to announce its annual event, “Soft Expo”, which aims at bringing together multinational and local software vendors and information communication technology companies.

The 5-day exposition of the BASIS, which is to begin from Feb.

10 next year, will feature an IT job fair, seminars and match making sessions between local and foreign companies’ delegations.

BASIS director MA Mubin Khan, who also spoke on the press conference, said the theme for the BASIS Soft Expo 2010, the eighth of its kind, is “Digital Bangladesh in Action”.

The organizers expect that about half a million visitors and over 200 exhibitors from home and abroad to throng the exposition.

They said the country’s software export has achieved hefty growth, as more than 400 software and IT companies are exporting their services to around 30 countries in the world, which includes the U.K., the U.S.A, Denmark and Japan.

According to the BASIS, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce has set an export target of 38 million U.S. dollars for the current fiscal year 2009-10 (July 2009-June 2010).

“Bangladesh’s software industry will become a 500 million U.S.

dollars export earning sector by 2013-2014 fiscal year (July 2013- June 2014) if the current trend of robust growth continues,” the BASIS president Karim had earlier told Xinhua.

He said Bangladesh’s approximately 20 billion taka (about 285.

71 million U.S. dollars) software industry currently employs nearly 20,000 skilled and semi-skilled professionals.

Following global companies’ interest about Bangladesh’s software industry, the sector insiders said many local and foreign IT firms are investing for developing high-quality software taking advantage of low-cost work force here.

But they said poor investment is still hindering the desired growth of the sector, which is the second largest avenue of graduate employment in the country.

“We’ll welcome more foreign investment in the sector,” the BASIS president said.

Among the hundreds of export-focused companies, according to BASIS, at least 30 companies have been set up either as joint venture or as ODC (Offshore Development Center) with hundred percent foreign investment in the country in recent years.