“In Egypt, we did not notice any impact of
the global financial crisis, but we anticipate
that it will affect us from February 2010 onwards.”
He added that the pharmaceutical
industry in Egypt has been growing by 14% -
17 % in recent years, “and we expect
the same for 2009.”
However, he cautioned
that another big pharmaceutical market in
the region, the UAE, has already been affected
by the crisis, saying that the market
there grew by around 15% in recent
years, but this year we only expect growth
of about 7%.”
Questioned about SEDICO’s exports he revealed that:
“Our aim is for
exports to constitute 15% - 20 % of our revenues.
However, it is going to be less than that this year,
as the effects of the global financial crisis became
apparent in our Eastern European markets about four
months ago. We expect these problems to increase. As
for our domestic market, we expect a further
decrease in the healthcare budget and hence a
decline in the current per-capita health expenditure
of around $105.”
He
added that problems in Egypt are exacerbated
by the fact that pharmacists in rural
areas can prescribe any type of drugs they
like without any control, thus contributing to
a big counterfeit drug market.
Asked about SEDICO’s
position as an insulin manufacturer he said that:
“Production
is going very well, and [having started
insulin production in 2001 in collaboration
with the Akzo Nobel Corporation]
SEDICO
is already operating in the UAE.”
He added
that there are only three multinational producers
of insulin and that
SEDICO is hoping
to operate in Romania and other Eastern
European countries by Q4 2011.
