Cairo – December 15, 2024: A consortium led by Arab Company for Drug Industries and Medical Appliances (ACDIMA), alongside EIPICO and the Suez Canal Economic Zone, is looking into establishing a pharmaceutical raw materials factory next year with investments ranging between $150-200 million.
According to ACDIMA chairperson, Olfat Ghorab, the new factory is a key step in addressing the ongoing challenges faced by Egypt’s pharmaceutical market, including shortages of essential drugs and frequent price hikes due to a lack of raw materials.
The new facility will focus on producing active pharmaceutical ingredients to meet local market needs and boost regional exports, helping strengthen Egypt’s pharmaceutical production capacity.
The Egyptian pharmaceutical market has been struggling with shortages of several medicines, compounded by rising production costs, since the start of the year with many delayed at ports because of insufficient foreign currency to release imported goods.
The total investment in the new factory is expected to be around $161 million shared Ahmed El-Kilani, CEO of EIPICO.
He emphasized that the factory would help ease the current pressure on Egypt’s pharmaceutical market by ensuring a stable supply of raw materials.
In addition to efforts to strengthen local production, the Egyptian government is focusing on attracting more foreign investment into the healthcare sector.
Ahmed El-Sebki, head of the General Authority for Healthcare, previously highlighted that a new strategy for granting "golden licenses" is being developed to encourage foreign capital, which will help address the challenges within the sector.
In the first half of 2024, the Ministry of Health raised prices on about 200 pharmaceutical products by up to 50 percent. According to Jamal Al-Leithi, chairman of the Pharmaceutical Industry Chamber, this has helped reduce the shortage of medicines by approximately 20 percent.
Al-Leithi also noted that the increased release of raw materials has allowed pharmaceutical factories to operate at full capacity, a sharp contrast to the 20 percent capacity seen earlier in the year when the drug shortage crisis was at its peak.
Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar previously confirmed that the drug shortage crisis is nearly over, with full resolution expected within the next two months. However, he warned that the rising costs of raw materials and currency fluctuations could lead to further price increases on certain medicines.
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