Tunisia’s pharmaceutical sector continues to forge ahead despite ongoing challenges. Despite the difficulties facing the country, the industry remains robust, meeting the population’s need for medicines and making a significant contribution to the country’s economic prosperity.
And it has done so in the most challenging of times, as demonstrated by its resilience in the face of the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Aware of the stakes involved, the government has stepped up its commitment to the sector since the late 1980s. At that time, the state-owned industry was meeting only between 5% and 6% of the country’s medication needs.
Policy clarification in terms of investment in the sector and specific incentives have therefore stimulated a positive dynamic in the sector,” points out the National Council of the Tunisian Pharmacists Association (CNOPT).
During his visit to Sfax on November 13, Minister of Health, Mustapha Ferjani, confirmed his ministry’s intention to radically restructure the Tunisian pharmaceutical industry while guaranteeing its autonomy.
He added that medicines produced in Tunisia cover about 75% of Tunisians’ needs and stressed that it is possible to reach 100% of pharmaceutical production thanks to the skills of national managers, including doctors and pharmacists with Tunisian university degrees.
Ferjani also explained that the Tunisian Pharmaceutical Industries Company, which resumed its activities two months ago after a two-year hiatus, is now able to guarantee the safety of medicines following its restructuring.
As for the central pharmacy, the health minister said that it provides all essential medicines, particularly for cancer and other diseases, but that there can sometimes be a shortage.
Pharmaceuticals in Tunisia: a USD 1.69 billion market
The size of the Tunisian pharmaceutical market is estimated at 1.69 billion US dollars in 2021, and total sales are expected to grow by 12.9% between 2022 and 2029, reaching almost 4.47 billion USD. These are the findings of a recent review of the Tunisian pharmaceutical market published by the Maximisemarketsearch website.
According to the same source, “Tunisia is one of the few countries in Africa to have a pharmaceutical sector with sophisticated management and advanced technologies, both in terms of product quality and safety. Local production of generic medicines is about 49% and imports are about 51%. Tunis has around 39 pharmaceutical companies in the region.
Regulatory and legal challenges
For a long time, the management of medicines in Tunisia was fragmented between several structures, which hindered the development of the pharmaceutical sector. The National Agency for Medicines and Health Products, long called for by professionals in the sector, was created by Law No. 2023-2 of July 12, 2023.
This agency, which is seen as a strong signal of the State’s commitment to consolidating and developing this sector, brings together the structures for managing medicines and health products. Its mission is to establish a coherent national policy in the pharmaceutical sector by strengthening controls on the manufacture, registration, import, export, distribution and marketing of these products.
However, despite the praise expressed by local pharmaceutical manufacturers for the creation of this agency, the sector still faces major challenges, not least of which is the legislation in force, which is considered “inappropriate” for encouraging its expansion.
The legislation in question is essentially Law 73 on the Pharmaceutical Professions, which now needs to be urgently revised (…).
