Egypt marks milestone with first batch of locally-produced insulin

Photo : Egypt Media Office

The Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, Aly al-Ghamrawy, shared exciting news on Tuesday during a special event. He announced that Egypt has started making its own insulin locally. By the end of September 2024, around 1.47 million doses of this insulin will be sold, bringing in LE 1.13 billion and saving $30 million in imports.

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This achievement comes after four years of hard work. Two local companies teamed up with international partners to make this happen. The goal is not only to provide enough insulin for people in Egypt but also to sell it to other African countries.

Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar explained how important this is. Every year, Egypt spends LE 3 billion on medicine for non-chronic diseases. Diabetes, a common condition, affects 15.5 percent of Egyptians, including 55,000 children. To meet this need, Egypt uses 17 million doses of insulin every year. Before this, 12 million doses were only packaged in Egypt, but now, they will be made locally.

The minister also mentioned that Egypt has 170 factories that make 90 percent of the medicines people use in the country. These factories are a big part of improving health care in Egypt.

Making insulin locally is a big step forward for Egypt. It will help reduce the cost of imports, support local businesses, and provide enough medicine for people in need. This move also shows Egypt’s commitment to helping its neighbors in Africa.