EGYPT — Marcyrl Pharmaceutical Industries, one of Egypt’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers has received an investment package from private equity firms, namely, Development Partners International and Amethis Group.
Marcyrl expressed that the investment for a minority stake in the company is to assist it to grow its market position by scaling up its specialty products and services offering across Egypt and the African Continent.
Farid Habib Salib, Chairman of Marcyrl Pharmaceutical Industries said: “At Marcyrl, we are working to transform the way specialty treatments are made accessible across Egypt and the entire African continent.”
Marcyrl has been in operation since 1998 and has become a leader in the manufacture of essential pharmaceuticals, focusing its efforts in the recent past on specialty generic drugs.
Africa has a desirable US$18 billion demand for pharmaceuticals but unfortunately, 60% of these products and tools are still imported affecting availability and affordability.
In a study conducted by the Global Health Policy in 2019, Africans pay nearly 30 times more for medicines in some cases in comparison to citizens in Europe and the U.S.
With a strong foundation in Egypt and a scalable platform, the funding boost places Macryl Pharmaceuticals in a vantage position to scale up its manufacturing capacity and expand its distribution and export network across the continent, potentially lowering the runaway costs.
The investment package from DPI & Amethis will enable Marcyrl to essentially leverage in investing in new high technology as well as innovations to increase its product offering to specialty medical solutions.
The package is geared also at helping them enhance their route to the export market strategy and scalability proposition in the coming years.
Ziad Abaza, Managing Director at Development Partners International said: “By leveraging its first mover advantage in the critical specialty areas of the pharmaceutical sector, Marcyrl has carved out a unique position for itself in the market.”
Africa’s pharmaceutical market is experiencing tremendous growth in specialty treatment for chronic diseases and illnesses.
Marcyrl, a leader in pharmaceutical innovation, is in a good position to seize this chance and contribute to satisfying this rising demand.
As per data, from the World Health Organisation, Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer contributed to 88% of deaths in Africa in 2021.
WHO further projects that, by 2030, NCDs will become the leading cause of death in Africa.
This would impose a significant burden on the continent, whose population will double within the next generation.
Marcyrl will also leverage DPI’s and Amethis’ business acumen to scale sustainably across the continent, through supporting its digitization effort to increase efficiency in manufacturing and distribution networks.
In a bid to curb the rising NCD cases, African governments signed the PEN-Plus strategy on 23 August 2022 at the 72nd session of the WHO’s Regional Committee for Africa in Lomé, Togo.
The treaty urges African countries to introduce standardized programs to treat chronic and severe non-communicable diseases.
This involves making sure that medicines, technologies, and diagnostics are available at primary healthcare facilities – and accessible.
Just 36% of African countries said they had essential medicines for non-communicable diseases in public hospitals, according to a 2019 WHO survey.
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