ISLAMABAD, Nov. 1 (Focus Pakistan) — Pakistan has rewritten the DRAP research fund rules, expanding provisions for research infrastructure and revising pharmaceutical industry representation on a key committee. However, the regulator has disclosed no updated balance or expenditure figures for a fund that held billions of rupees in 2023.
S.R.O. 1915(I)/2026 is dated Oct. 28. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) needed the federal government’s nod for it, and got it. The 1978 rules it amends make every licensed drugmaker hand 1% of gross profit to the Central Research Fund.
The order gives no balance. Nor does it say what DRAP has spent, or on which projects. It offers nothing new for researchers either.
The fund has drawn questions from industry and lawmakers for years. In 2023 it held close to 5.22 billion rupees. Research had not seen a rupee of that in 11 years.
In a September 2024 response to the Senate, the government said no applications qualifying for research funding had come in during the previous three years. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told lawmakers the money would stay in the fund and earn bank interest.
What the DRAP research fund can pay for
First, the order adds the words “establishment, infrastructure development” to Rule 3(2), the clause listing what the fund may pay for.
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That follows a change in February 2025. S.R.O. 168(I)/2025 had already let DRAP draw on the fund to run and upgrade more kinds of buildings and infrastructure.
The October notification does not identify any laboratory, research institute or construction programme that the fund would finance.
The regulator has looked to the fund for building costs before. In 2019, a DRAP official proposed spending about 1 billion rupees from it on a headquarters for the authority, and the Ministry of National Health Services rejected the plan. The latest amendment makes no reference to that proposal.
Industry seats
The second amendment revises Rule 8(2) so that it names one nominee each from two industry bodies. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) largely represents domestic manufacturers, and Pharma Bureau speaks for multinational drug companies.
The two bodies often take different positions on pricing and regulation, reflecting the separate commercial interests of local and foreign firms. Under the revised rule, each will have a nominee inside the committee structure that oversees a fund their members finance.
The notification sets out no new disclosure or audit requirement alongside the change.
Board’s role
The third change removes wording in Rule 8(8) that named particular DRAP officials. In its place, the rule now refers to a committee that the DRAP Board constitutes. The order also deletes the words “of the Authority” from Rule 8(9).
The notification does not explain how the Board will select committee members, evaluate research proposals or report spending.
DRAP published the proposed amendments for public comment in September before it notified the final rules.
The October notification discloses neither the fund’s current balance nor its total disbursements or approved projects. Without those figures, readers cannot judge what the latest amendments will deliver.
