Former US President Donald Trump has announced a 100% tax on imported branded and patent drugs from 1 October. Its purpose is to encourage American companies to make medicines in the country and reduce dependence on abroad. Think, there was a time when Trump called for hydroxychloroquin from India during Kovid-19 in 2020. At that time Trump was thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘Great’ and ‘Real Good’.
Trump had ever called for this medicine
In the year 2020, a new virus was spread in the world and there was no strong medicine. Then malaria drug hydroxychyxloroquin was included in the treatment of Kovid patients. ICMR also advised to use it in some cases. Trump said at that time that I spoke to Prime Minister of India this morning. India makes a large amount of hydroxychloroquin. India is watching it seriously.
But at that time there were 3.6 lakh Kovid cases and about 10,000 deaths in the US. Trump had also threatened India that if medicines are not found, then retaliation would be taken. Later he changed the stance and said in December 2021 that I bought millions of dose. More than 29 million. I talked to Prime Minister Modi, many hydroxychloroquin came from India. He supported very well. Let us know that the first batch was sent from Gujarat to America, then more than 4 lakh cases and more than 13,000 deaths were recorded in America.
New tax affects India’s medicine export
India exports a third part of its medicines to America. Most medicines are generic, so they will not suffer much due to new tax. But experts say that this tax can be affected by specialty and complex generic medicines. In FY24, India sent drugs worth $ 8.7 billion (about Rs 76,113 crore) to the US, which is 11% of India’s total exports. According to Choice Institutional Equites, 100% US tax on branded and patented drugs can cause damage to Indian pharma companies. America takes about 35% of India’s drug export, which is close to $ 10 billion in FY25.
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