The drop in the value of the EGP coupled with state price controls on medicine has made a large number of products “unprofitable to produce or import,” Arwa Gaballa and Eric Knecht write for Reuters. “We aren’t a charity. We have expenses and production costs, and if a company isn’t making profit it will have to halt production,” said Said Ibrahim, factory manager at EIPICO says. Pharmacies nationwide are running short of product, they write, and that is translating to pressure on the government. "Distributors are now telling [stores] nothing imported is available. The problem has been going on for a while, but has only turned into a crisis in recent weeks," one retailer of meds says. A health ministry spokesperson says the crisis is “orchestrated … the decision to float the [EGP] was taken…and two hours later people began saying we have a crisis and we don’t have meds … It’s a way to push for a rise in prices, which will not happen."

…Some multinational pharma manufacturers have reportedly threatened exit Egypt, Al Mal says. The producers gave the government two months to help industry cope with the impact of the float. Representatives of 25 companies have refused a proposal by the Health Ministry to “change” their prices or have the state provide them with a subsidy per unit produced or sold. Sources said that companies are trying to escalate the problem all the way to Ittihadiya, providing documents that profits of 5-20% prior to the float turned into losses of 80% as their selling prices continue to be fixed by the government. Sources add that international producers have already started looking into exiting Egypt and others are going to step-up layoffs.