South Africa

Featured image: Photo by Tobin Rogers on Unsplash
The OTC and pharma market in South Africa
According to CPC’s projections, South Africa’s pharmaceutical market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2012 to 2020, by which time its value will have risen in value from US $3.61 billion to US $5.1 billion. This expected fast growth will be driven by the government’s healthcare reforms, which include improving access to healthcare services by expanding National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage to the entire South African population, and overhauling the nation’s drug regulatory processes to make them faster and more transparent. These moves, together with the introduction of a new regulatory agency and efforts to augment economic growth, will advance the country’s pharmaceutical sector and boost foreign investment.
South Africa is also modernising its regulatory structure to speed up drug approvals and increase foreign investment in the country. Under the old regulatory regime, drug approvals took a long time and the process was not transparent, and this led many Pharma multi-nationals to consider investing in other markets where there was greater clarity, more stream-lined processes, and less risk. To this end, the government is establishing the South African Health Products Regulatory Agency (SAHPRA) to replace the Medicines Control Council (MCC). The new body will have a wide range of responsibilities, including chipping away at the country’s backlog of drug applications and speeding up the registration process from its current five years to one year.
South Africa in numbers
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