Egypt approves up to 20% rise in 40 drug prices

The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has approved price increases of between 10% and 20% on about 40 medicines, taking effect in January 2027, in response to requests from pharmaceutical companies, a source at the authority told Al Manassa.

Drug prices in Egypt are set under a compulsory pricing system, in which the EDA fixes binding prices for manufacturers based on production costs plus a fair profit margin.

The source, who asked not to be named, said companies submitted a memo to the authority last December seeking higher prices for these products, out of a total of roughly 1,000 medicines.

In April, the companies sent the EDA a formal memo saying they had suffered heavy losses as the dollar strengthened and the cost of raw materials rose, most of which are imported and paid for in hard currency.

Ali Ouf, head of the pharmaceuticals division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, said companies have filed around 400 repricing requests with the authority since July. The EDA approved only 10% of them and rejected the rest, he told Al-Shorouk.

The dollar rose sharply against the pound as the US war on Iran escalated in April. Despite a later dip, it has recently climbed back to record levels and now trades above 53 pounds.

The source said mounting drug shortages, which have reached about 230 products over roughly the past year, pushed the authority to approve the increases and adjust market prices to meet domestic demand.

Companies had asked the government, through the EDA, for increases of 40% to 50% on some products, the source added. The authority rejected those figures to avoid triggering a crisis in the local drug market, opting instead for smaller increases phased in over several stages, the first in January 2027.

The shortages expected to ease once prices rise include thyroid, heart and blood pressure medications, treatments for blood disorders, certain antibiotics used in orthopedic surgery, and diabetes drugs, according to the source.

Ouf flatly denied that companies had withheld medicines from the market to force prices up.

In June 2024, the EDA allowed companies to raise prices by 20% to 50% to keep pace with rising production costs, following the flotation of the pound in March that year, which pushed the dollar to about 51 pounds at banks.