Nigeria’s Pharmaceutical imports have been forecast to reach $789 million by 2018, gaining 10.4 percent from a value of $481million in 2013 as a result of importation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and other raw materials used in finished pharmaceutical products which have direct effect in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of diseases from India, United States of America, Germany, etc.
While analysts believe this has widened the country’s pharmaceutical trade deficit from $ 475million in 2013 to $778 in 2018, opportunities exist for investors to take advantage of the gap in Africa’s largest economy with rebased Gross Domestic Product of $510 billion.
Farouk Gumel, Partner at PwC Nigeria, a multinational professional services firm, who gave this revelation, said that as chronic disease is soaring and emerging economies including Nigeria are driving demand for medicines, imports remains key to meeting growing local demand for medicines in the country.
Ola Ijimakin, general manager, marketing, Fidson Healthcare Plc, explained that petrochemicals are mostly the starting point for pharmaceutical companies to source raw materials for drug production hence until petrochemical industries in Nigeria are developed, the nation may not be able to develop capacity for APIs.
Ijimakin noted that the cost of finished pharmaceutical products is not in the hands of pharmaceuticals as it is determined to a large extent by the cost of imported APIs.
“There is the need to develop the chemical/petrochemical industry, provide necessary infrastructure and environment to make locally manufactured APIs competitive in the international market as any local investor might need to export if the local market is not able to absorb the products,” Ijimakin added.
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Rising disease burden, including non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and diabetes, is creating growth prospects for pharmaceutical companies including multinationals in Africa to produce drugs to address chronic conditions.
As investment in more specialised diagnosis centres, relating to cardiovascular and oncological disease has continued to improve the level of patient diagnosis, increasing levels of affordability has spurred demand for prescribed chronic medicines.
African pharmaceutical market is characterised by highly brand conscious consumerism, with aspirational consumption behaviour hence, competitive pricing, along with good product quality, distribution networks and product promotion remains key to success.
These growth projections for the pharmaceutical markets within East and West Africa is coming at a time when NCDs have become the leading causes of death, becoming a large public health concern, dominating health care needs and expenditures in developed and most low and middle-income countries, including Nigeria.
