A strategic partnership contract has been signed between the Egyptian Pharmaceutical City GYPTO Pharma, and the American Abbott pharmaceutical producer. The idea is to boost the production of drugs locally in order to be able to provide them at international standards and more affordable prices in the local market.
Signing the partnership contract on behalf of GYPTO Pharma was its Chairman and CEO, Amr Mahmoud; and of behalf of Abbott, its Regional Director Egypt – Saudi – Levant, Mohamed Kandil. Attending the signing ceremony was Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar; Advisor to the President for Health and Prevention Affairs, Mohamed Awad Tag El Din; and Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, Ali Ghamrawy, in addition to high ranking Abbott officials and senior representatives of the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt.
The Health Minister said that the partnership agreement provides for the manufacture of six types of analgesic and antibiotic drugs inside the premises of GYPTO Pharma, with a production capacity of 155 million packages over five years. This should use up to nine per cent of GYPTO’s production capacity.
On another front, Dr Abdel-Ghaffar pointed out, the partnership will help boost the confidence of foreign investors in the drug manufacturing business in Egyptian production lines. It will also help achieve self-sufficiency in medicine for the local market.
Egypt has been in the pharmaceutical industry since 1939, Dr Abdel-Ghaffar said. He stressed that the government is keen to expand in the field of medical industries. “We have the technical capacity, calibres and funding that place Egypt as a hub for pharmaceutical industries in Africa, East Asia and Europe, he claimed.
For his part, Presidential Advisor Dr Tag El Din, expressed the political leadership’s commitment and support for the development of sustainable health systems, as one of the mainstays of sustainable development goals.
Dr Ghamrawy, Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, expressed GYPTO Pharma’s keenness to opens its doors to leading global investors in the pharma field, noting that the Pharmaceutical City works side by side with the Egyptian State to develop health systems and provide medicine to Egyptians at affordable prices.
Dr Mahmoud, GYPTO Chairman, said that the Pharmaceutical City observes tight governance and strategy when it comes to production, evaluation and follow-up. He said that GYPTO Pharma is currently cooperating with seven leading companies in the pharma field, and announced that by the end of 2024, GYPTO Pharma will be producing 95 new pharmaceutical products.
Assem Shaftar, Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Department at Abbott International in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, expressed his great pleasure at the fruitful cooperation, which he described as a “real successful breakthrough that contributes to the expansion of the pharmaceutical industries and attracting investments to the medical industries, for the benefit of patients and the achievement of social well-being”.
During the signing ceremony, a short documentary was screened about the achievements of the Egyptian Pharmaceutical City; it reviewed the city’s activity and production lines since its opening in April 2021. In 2023, Pharma City produced 26 million drug packages; it aims to reach 60 million packages in 2024, the documentary declared.
The Egyptian Pharmaceutical City (GYPTO Pharma) stretches over an area of 180,000 square metres. It has two factories that produce drugs in all pharmaceutical forms, including tablets, capsules, effervescent, solutions, and ointments, using state-of-the art technology.
Abbott is a global healthcare leader whose portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritional and branded generic medicines. Based in Chicago, Abbott prides itself on serving people in some 160 countries.
Watani International
3 June 2024