Biogaran’s CEO see strong potential in generic drugs market in Nigeria

…as it acquires Swisspha

 

Biogaran, a leading pharmaceutical company in France with specialty in the manufacture of generic drugs has acquired Swisspha, a pharmaceutical company based in Lagos.

In many African countries, generic drugs are gaining market share at the expense of over-the-counter and branded products. In South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, and Kenya, generics grew at an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3 percent between 2004 and 2011, considerably faster than the 13.4 percent for pharmaceuticals as a whole, according to a MacKinsey’s report “Generating value in generics: Finding the next five years of growth.”

This trend looks set to continue. Between 2010 and 2014, generics’ share of the market grew from 22 to 25 percent in Algeria, for instance, and from 23 to 28 percent in Morocco.

“There will be a much stronger need for quality products in the future because the problem in Nigeria is a preponderance of counterfeit drugs. We want to make a difference between quality products and imported counterfeit product” said Paschal Briere, president, Biogaran in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay.

Briere added, “So you have a vibrant pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria which is well known and there are five main players in the industry. I trust the market will grow by 10 percent every year especially if the economy resumes and there are good prospects for those doing a proper job in the next ten years, there will be no room for those that are not doing a proper job.”

Several factors are responsible for this shift. First, physicians and pharmacists are getting used to prescribing generic drugs. Second, as national insurance programmes expand and more people gain access to health care, demand for generics will rise at the expense of costlier branded drugs.

Third, many governments are showing strong support for generics. For instance, South Africa requires pharmacists to inform private patients about generic alternatives when they purchase prescription drugs; Nigeria has a similar law; and Morocco aims to increase generics sales to 70 percent of publicly funded pharmaceuticals.

In this light Biogaran is set to reap the benefits latent in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry.

Brier explained “the Biogaran brand has a portfolio of eight hundred products in France. The Biogaran model may be adapted, to be workable in Nigeria and this is very important, we have strong knowledge in managing production facilities, and we have knowledge in finding new products for Swipha.  We launch in France for example twenty to fifty products every year, so this may be adapted of course but Nigeria fits very well with what we use to do.”