Pharma roadmap envisages $10b exports

Ahsan Iqbal, the federal planning minister, has asked drug makers to capitalise on their recent export gains and help make Pakistan a competitive, innovation-led pharmaceutical hub, The Express Tribune reported. He made the appeal at a roundtable he chaired, which also drew Haroon Akhtar Khan and Mustafa Kamal. The gathering followed a 34% rise in pharmaceutical exports to $457 million in FY2025, a 20-year high.

Iqbal said Pakistan must go beyond incremental export growth and aim for more than $100 billion in exports by 2035. He asked the industry to quantify its possible contribution to that target and to list the regulatory, administrative, financing, production and market-access obstacles keeping it out of global markets. In his view, the goal is no longer a further $10 billion or $20 billion, but whether Pakistan can become a pharmaceutical hub of the world within a decade.

Iqbal proposed a one-month internal workshop involving all relevant stakeholders to set priorities and shape a roadmap running to 2030 and beyond, drafted with the Ministry of Planning. The roadmap presented at the event lays out a path from $457 million to a $2 billion target, with $3 billion via PharmEx in three years and $10 billion within eight. Iqbal added that the government would facilitate private firms, keep policies consistent and treat current export performance as a launchpad.