Ranbaxy sets sights on North African pharma market
pharmafile | March 19, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |
Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy has opened a new manufacturing facility in Morocco that will help spearhead an expansion of its business in North Africa.
Ranbaxy already has three facilities in sub-Saharan Africa – two in Nigeria and one in South Africa – and now wants to consolidate its position in the north of the continent.
The Moroccan health authorities have already carried out a successful audit of the plant in Casablanca and granted approval for Ranbaxy to start producing medicines for use within Morocco and neighbouring markets.
The move reflects wider interest among established pharmaceutical manufacturers in tapping into growth markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which are becoming increasingly attractive despite recent political unrest and social changes.
Ranbaxy estimates that Morocco has a $1 billion pharmaceutical market and is poised for high single-digit growth in the coming years thanks to increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita health expenditure.
“Morocco is one of the important markets and this manufacturing facility further reinforces our commitment to the people of Morocco and the African continent,” said Ranbaxy’s African head Mahendra Bhardwaj.
A recently-published report from Espicom notes that recent changes to Morocco’s national health insurance schemes and will provide “substantial additional funding for the health sector”, particularly for those on lower incomes.
Also stimulating foreign investment is new legislation that does away with the requirement for all pharmaceutical companies operating in the country to be majority-owned by a pharmacist.
At present most of the manufacturing infrastructure in Morocco is owned by foreign companies, with Sanofi having a particularly strong presence along with GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. Jordanian drugmaker Hikma is also growing its presence in Morocco thanks to its takeover of local producer Promopharm in January.
“With five subsidiaries, five representative offices and a strong workforce of nearly a 1,000 people, Ranbaxy’s distribution network caters to 44 of the 54 countries in this continent,” said the company in a statement.
Phil Taylor
