Algerian pharmaceutical boom: A step towards health & food security

**In just a few decades, Algeria has become one of Africa's leading pharmaceutical producers. More than 2.5 billion euros worth of medicines were produced last year. Some 200 production units cover nearly 70% of the country's generic needs, and this self-sufficiency is good news for the country and the region, as the international market remains volatile. **

This deep transformation in the pharmaceutical industry is strengthening the region's health security, which may in turn, help to provide food security and many labaroties around the country are participating in the effort. 

Frater Razes Laboratories

An example is the Frater Razes laboratories. In the midst of the pandemic, it put on the market an anticoagulant which was prescribed to Covid-19 patients. This was the first time that Algeria produced biosimilar medicines: made from living organisms. Abdererahmane Boudiba is the Secretary General of Frater Razes, 

"The world today is moving towards biotechnology. We have anticipated this trend in the same way as international laboratories through pharmaceutical innovation, by orienting our production towards biosimilars and the creation of products from cell culture. This product had been imported for 20 years. We have ensured self-sufficiency for our country, for Algerian patients."

The laboratory now plans to increase its exports. But another priority is to take further step towards self-sufficiency, and thanks to its research it hopes it will soon be able to synthesise organic substances. Hamza Mansour is the Managing Director, 

"If we carry out this biosynthesis, we will not have to import raw materials. We will manufacture our own raw materials, we will ensure our biosynthesis, our manufacturing from A to Z."

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