Quandary For Egypt: Drug Industry Or Consumers?

Egypt's pharmaceutical industry faces a number of hard decisions as it tries to meet the requirements of World Trade Organization membership, according to a United Press International report. Under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Egypt has a grace period of 10-12 years to lift subsidies and import restrictions.

This has the Egyptian government and its Ministry of Health trying to balance the interests of a promising national pharmaceutical industry and the needs of consumers, who have long been dependent on state subsidies.

The Ministry's goal is drug prices based on production costs plus profit margins of 15% for essential medicines and 25% for non-essential products. In a recent interview, Health Minister Ismail Sallam promised to resist the "blackmail" of patients by some doctors who allegedly coax them into buying expensive imported medicines. Dr Sallam has also defended the government's policy of limiting the import and sale of high-priced foreign drugs.