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FrançaisArticle of Pharmivoire Nouvelle (Côte d’Ivoire) : Local production of medicine and accessibility challenges
Submitted by on Fri, 01/26/2018 - 17:24
The latest edition of the quarterly magazine « Private Sector and Development » focuses on the issue of African medicine. As recalled by Philippe Abecassis and Nathalie Coutinet in the introduction, access to proper medicine is a major challenge for African countries. The African Continent only accounts for 3% of global output while 95% of the medicines consumed in Africa are imported. In some African countries, counterfeit products represent half of all drugs on the market.
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Pharmivoire Nouvelle, an Ivoirian company supported by I&P since 2012 and specialized in the production of intravenous solutions, published for this edition an article on accessibility challenges linked to the local production of medicine in Côte d’Ivoire.
Pharmivoire Nouvelle is a pioneering manufacturer of medical intravenous solutions in Côte d’Ivoire. Intravenous solutions are used in primary healthcare in hospitals for systemic rehydration of patients. Its production facility, located in an industrial park in Abidjan, produces 3 million medical pouches annually for a local market estimated to consume between 15 and 20 million pouches a year.
Its 25 years’ experience are proof that locally-based production of pharma products is a realistic, sustainable and viable alternative in terms of accessibility challenges but that it requires public sector support to be able to grow.
As is the case for most medicines, the intravenous solutions market is indeed structurally import-based. Dependence on imported products has however a number of drawbacks (high cost due to high transport cost, long delivery lead times, storing problems, and the risk of counterfeit goods).
Pharmivoire’s main asset is its closeness to the market and product availability. The local production facility is capable of making the product available immediately after the quarantine period. Besides Pharmivoire Nouvelle has drawn up a development plan to upgrade its production facilities, boost its production capacities and ultimately enhance its competitiveness by generating economies of scale
Government support is crucial for developing local industry and this should take the form of the public procurement and incentive policies that have been successfully deployed in other countries (i.e., Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt).
About Pharmivoire
Pharmivoire Nouvelle was set up in 1999 by Coopérative des pharmaciens de Côte d’Ivoire to provide a missing link in the local health system and pharmaceutical industry and it has become a leading manufacturer of intravenous solutions for Ivorian hospitals and clinics.
Company's website (in French) →
Authors
Peter Aouely, CEO, Pharmivoire Nouvelle
Peter Aouely has been CEO of Pharmivoire Nouvelle since 2009. Prior to this, he held a number of finance and management positions in Ivorian companies, notably as Management Controller and Deputy CEO of the paper and office equipment distributor Librairie de France. Peter is a graduate of Ecole Supérieure de Commerce d’Abidjan (ESCA business school).
Elisabeth Kacou, Chairman, Pharmivoire Nouvelle
Dr Elisabeth Kacou was trained as a pharmacist but she has occupied a wide range of different functions: Chairman of Pharmivoire Nouvelle (since 2004) and of the pharmacists cooperative group Copharm. Since 2016, she has been President of Club africain des entrepreneurs. Elisabeth is a graduate of Caen University (France) and Abidjan MDE Business School (Côte d’Ivoire).
Nouss Bih, Investment Officer, Investisseurs & Partenaires
Nouss Bih joined Investisseurs & Partenaires in 2015, as Head of Investment in Côte d’Ivoire. Before this, Nouss worked as a structured financing analyst at Société Générale and Santander in France where she helped put together export financing and trade finance solutions. Nouss holds a Masters in Management from ESCP Europe (Paris).
