Egypt’s pharmaceutical industry grows at fastest pace – health minister

Egypt’s pharmaceutical industry is growing at the fastest pace in nearly two years, Health Minister Hala Zayed said in a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

The country has been working on fully and fairly providing medicines over the past two years, Zayed added, referring to the ministry’s significant role in detecting and treating hepatitis C patients.

The national pharmaceutical companies have managed to import a number of vital medicines used to treat coronavirus patients and have formed partnerships to manufacture them in Egypt, Zayed asserted.

Earlier this week, The Tenth of Ramadan for Pharmaceutical Industries and Diagnostic Reagents Company (Rameda) announced it has started the manufacturing of Anviziram, the generic form of Japanese antiviral drug Avigan.

The drug contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient Favipiravir and will be used in the treatment of the novel coronavirus.

The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has also this week granted approval for Rameda to begin manufacturing of Gilead’s intravenous Remedisivir vials, which is also used in the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Last month, Cairo-based Eva Pharma signed a deal with Gilead Sciences for the manufacturing and sale of remdesivir.

Under the agreement, the Egyptian company has the right to manufacture and distribute the coronavirus drug in 127 countries. Later in June, Eva Pharma announced it had begun manufacturing antiviral drug Avipiravir, which has proved effective in treating coronavirus patients in Russia as part of ongoing clinical trials in Japan and other countries.