Egypt Daily News – Ali Aouf, the head of the Pharmaceuticals Division at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce in Egypt, anticipates an increase in the prices of around 1,600 pharmaceutical products in the country from September 2024 to the end of 2025.
He reported that the Egyptian Pharmaceutical Authority has already received requests from companies to raise prices and may approve increases for approximately 600 products in the last quarter of this year.
So far, the Authority has approved price hikes for 400 medications during the months of May, June, and July after a review process.
Aouf believes that if the current economic conditions, particularly the price of the dollar, stabilize, the Authority could increase prices for roughly 1,000 medications throughout the year 2025.
He noted that the approved increases are expected to range from 20% to 30% for drugs treating chronic diseases, and from 30% to 50% for non-essential and seasonal medications.
Aouf described the already implemented price increases as “unfair,” citing the significant rise in drug production costs that resulted from the recent liberalization of the exchange rate, which saw the dollar’s value jump from less than 31 pounds to about 49 pounds.
He emphasized that 90% of the pharmaceutical industry’s inputs are imported, making the dollar’s valuation a crucial factor in operating costs. However, he pointed out that around 16,000 medications’ prices remain stable, providing alternatives for those drugs that experienced price hikes.
The Egyptian government has been actively addressing drug shortages, with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announcing plans to resolve the crisis within three months.
The Egyptian Medicines Authority must approve any price changes, requiring pharmaceutical companies to demonstrate increased production costs.
Aouf also mentioned that the number of missing medications in Egypt is expected to decline significantly, from around 1,000 at the end of May to about 500 by the end of September. Despite having 17,000 registered medicines, only around 4,000 are widely available in the market.
In terms of sales, the first seven months of 2024 saw a nearly 40% uptick in pharmaceutical sales compared to the previous year, attributed to price increases and improved supply of previously scarce medications.
The estimated volume of drug sales reached 105 billion pounds during this period, up from 75 billion pounds the prior year, with monthly sales maintaining between 14 to 15 billion pounds and peaking at 17 billion pounds in July.
