The Competition Council in Morocco has begun examining a deal in which Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical giant, will transfer its Bleomycin cancer drug business to Hikma, a UK-based international pharmaceutical company, Hespress AR reported.
This transfer will specifically impact Hikma’s Moroccan subsidiary, Promopharm.
This deal comes when Bleomycin drugs have faced severe pharmacy shortages, with prices starting at 345 DH, Hespress AR reported.
Promopharm issued a profit warning for the last fiscal year, attributing the decline in its annual financial results to the rising cost of raw materials and the weakening of Moroccan dirham compared to the dollar, the main currency for importing raw materials.
Industry sources who spoke to Hespress AR downplayed the importance of Promopharm’s profit warning. They highlight that these are global challenges faced by all pharmaceutical companies.
The high cost of importing raw materials, fueled by inflation and geopolitical unrest, has inflated logistical costs, especially in the Red Sea, a major import route from India and China, the world’s leading producers of pharmaceutical raw materials.
These sources further explain that any change in ownership of a pharmaceutical activity doesn’t immediately affect public drug prices. The new owner’s commercial plans, including manufacturing costs, distribution efficiency, and the medicine’s tax status, will influence future prices.
The Ministry of Health and Social Protection’s decisions regarding price reductions for original, generic, and biosimilar medicines will also be important.
the Competition Council received notification of this economic concentration process and released a non-confidential summary.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.