Table 1.

Per-unit cost component values available from published sources in the last 10 years

Source (year, location)	Cost components included in estimate	Conversion cost per tablet (US$)
Most recent conversion cost ‘norms’ published under India’s Drug (Price Control) Order 1995 (2012, India)	CC not including distribution or packaging	0.0002–0.001
Lowest-priced product in UK, South Africa, India (2016)	Cost per unit of lowest-priced solid oral formulation FPP	0.0011–0.0043
‘Can local producers compete with low-cost imports? A simulation study of pharmaceutical industry in low-income Africa’, Chaudhuri and West (2015 India)	CC including depreciation of capital and packaging, but not including sales and distribution	0.0056
	CC including depreciation of capital and packaging, and including sales and distribution	0.0105
Confidential discussion by authors with large generic companies (2016, India)	CC including packaging, but not depreciation of capital, sales or distribution	0.006
‘Outlook on pharma operations’ McKinsey & Company (2014, no specific territory)	Total production costs, lowest-cost plants (not further specified)	0.013

CCC, conversion cost.