ALGIERS – Thursday, 18 August 2022 (APS) – Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry Abderrahmane Djamel Lofti Benbahmed received, on Wednesday, two experts from the African Union (AU) with whom he discussed the cooperation opportunities between Algeria and the different institutions of the Organization, said the ministry in a statement.
According to the source, Benbahmed received at the ministry’s headquarters, consultant to the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Luis Sambo, and team leader in charge of technical support and commitment of AU member countries Mosoka Papà Fallah.
The meeting was an occasion for both parties to discuss opportunities between Algeria and the various African institutions for the implementation and support of a development plan to achieve a complementary African pharmaceutical industry through the creation of regional industrial centers specialized in product range, the co-development of drugs between producers from different African countries, particularly for pathologies affecting the African continent and subcontracting between producers from different Member States for better exploitation of the capacities of production.
Benbahmed called for “a paradigm shift and a new approach based on continental economic integration the support policies of multilateral funds and central purchasing bodies to encourage them to acquire pharmaceutical products from African production to development of the continent and guarantee its health and pharmaceutical sovereignty.”
The Africa CDC representative praised Algeria’s skills concerning the creation of a ministry specially dedicated to pharmaceutical industry and legislative reform, as he expressed the wish to receive “the compendium bringing together the sixty legislative and regulatory texts that enabled unprecedented growth of the national industrial fabric with the entry into service of 42 new production units, including 06 manufacturing units for oncology products and 01 insulin production unit,” said the source.
The AU representative also requested an accurate census of the 196 production units capacities installed nationwide, as well as all the therapeutic areas aiming at transmitting them to the various institutions and central of African purchases.