El Sisi gives nod to pharma price pact, calls for more investment in industry: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi appeared to give a nod yesterday to an agreement between big pharma and the Health Ministry that would allow manufacturers hit by spiraling input costs to raise prices on a pre-determined schedule. A statement carried by state news agency MENA quotes El Sisi as having told cabinet “the government should ensure the availability of various types of medicines at affordable prices as well as provide imported drugs that have no domestic alternatives.” El Sisi also urged the government to “improve health care services, develop the local pharmaceutical industry and increase its competitiveness, and work to attract new investments,” Ahram Online reports.

Health Minister Ahmed Rady broke the government’s strategy for dealing with the issue into three phases: “in the short-term the ministry will increase prices and overcome shortages, in the medium-term by developing state-owned pharmaceutical factories, and in the long-term by expanding the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt.”

The Health Ministry has given domestic and international manufacturers two days to submit for approval their lists of products whose prices they want to hike, Al Mal reports. As we noted last month, pharma producers had reached an agreement with Rady to raise the prices of 15% of locally-produced meds and 20% of imported meds as of February. The agreement has allowed companies to resume imports of production inputs after a long pause that was instigated by higher costs following the EGP float. According to Al Borsa, both foreign and local players are already in the process of opening new LCs to cover their import needs.