Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-02-26

Establishment of a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Zone in Hambantota

- The State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC), presently manufactures pharmaceuticals for a variety of diseases, and the SPMC and the other private manufacturers produce around 2 billion units of pharmaceuticals annually required for the use of the the country, at present. This quantity is adequate only to meet 12% of the market demand and the balance 88% of the required medicinal drugs are imported. The expenditure incurred annually for the purpose is around US$ 500 million.
Around 70% of the cost of production is spent for the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients required for the production of drugs and the establishment of a plant in Sri Lanka for the production of said Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients will make enable to save a large amount of foreign exchange within the country. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. (Dr.) Rajitha Senaratne, the Minister of Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine, to establish a pharmaceutical zone in an extent of 200 acres in the Hambantota area for the manufacture of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and finished formulations, was approved by the Cabinet.