With stiffening up of local content requirements well underway, many multinational drug developers seeking to introduce their therapies to the Algerian marketplace have been scrambling to team up with the handful of indigenous CMOs that possess the requisite quality standards and reputations to handle their brands. Here is a selection of some of those elite local outfits that are commonly perceived to make the grade.
Groupe Saidal
Groupe Saidal is the largest pharmaceutical company in Algeria and one of the largest in Africa.
Saidal is a joint-stock company with a capital of 2,500,000 dinars in Algeria. 80 percent of Saidal Group’s capital is held by the State, and the remaining 20 percent was sold through the stock market in 1999 to institutional investors and individuals.
Organised into an industrial group, Saidal’s mission is to develop, produce and market pharmaceutical products for human use.
The Saidal Group’s strategic objective is to consolidate its leading position in the production of generic medicines and to contribute, in doing so, to the execution of the national drug policy implemented by the public authorities.
Biopharm/Biopure
Biopharm is an industrial and commercial group that invested in the pharmaceutical sector in the early 1990s and now has a production unit that meets international standards and a distribution network for wholesalers, processors and pharmacies.
Biopharm began by gradually adapting its organisational structure as a Group around its various businesses:
– Drug production through Biopharm, which remains the core of the Group
– Wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical products through Biopharm Distribution
– Distribution to pharmacies through Biopure
– Medical promotion and information, through HHI (Human Health Information)
– Logistics for the pharmaceutical industry through Biopharm Logistic
Since 2013, Biopharm has been 49% owned by a consortium made up of the Financial Development Partners International (DPI) and Mediterrània Capital as well as the German development agency DEG.
In September 2016, with a market cap of DZD 31.5 billion (c. USD 290 million), Biopharm became the fifth company to enter Algeria’s stock market and accounts for 70% of the total Algiers stock exchange market cap.
Merinal
Merinal Laboratories was born from a dispensary pharmacy in 1969 and specialises in the production of dry form medicines (tablets, capsules and sachets) of general formulation.
Since the start-up of the production unit in 2002, Merinal has opted for a development strategy focused on generics and their own patents.
With ten regional offices, Merinal began exporting in 2007. Since then, the company has expanded its presence in seven countries, and its products are being registered in many others.
In 2016, Merinal exported nearly one million boxes, and the company is expanding its investments to increase its export capacity.
Merinal is ranked #3 in the country with 50 M € annual turnover. They recently launched the building a new 15 M € plant in the country.
Laboratoire Beker
Beker Laboratoires specialised in the development, production and marketing of generic pharmaceutical products in tablet and capsule form that meet international standards. Beker Laboratoires has over one hundred products of spanning several therapeutic areas and infectious diseases.
Relying on the expertise of their R&D team, Beker Laboratoires manages the full development process of all their products within their specialised units, thus the full control of the product quality. This know-how led them to acquire technological independence, enabling them to provide patients with generic drugs of cutting-edge molecules at a competitive price.
Beker received international attention in 2018 for the development of a generic version of Gilead’s Sovaldi®, a treatment for Hepatitis C.
Hydrapharm/AT Pharma
CEO: Mr. Mohamed El-Bachir Abbas Terki
Founded in 1995, Hyrapharm is a company under Algerian law oriented towards the distribution of pharmaceutical products.
Hyrapharm offers its partners an integrated services platform deploying all the trades of the value chain: direct and indirect distribution, import, medical information and manufacture of pharmaceutical products.
The acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the world leader in the sector, in the company’s capital in 2007 defines the Hyrapharm Group as an extension platform for the Maghreb and West Africa.
The Hyrapharm Group now has five pharmaceutical distribution subsidiaries, two import and distribution subsidiaries, one medical and marketing information subsidiary one parapharmaceutical brand, two products and regional sales outlets.
