Indian Pharma Companies Target West African Market

ACCRA: As India's pharmaceutical companies continue to look for greener pastures for growth, the 70 participants in the two-day IPHEX Africa trade exhibition in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos will be aiming to increase their exports to western Africa where they see a significant growth potential.

The Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) told IANS in an email exchange that the February 18-19 exhibition aims to showcase "the advanced technologies that are being developed by Indian pharmaceutical companies and also to enable the Indian companies to renew their contacts with Nigerians and also with neighbouring countries."

The exhibition comes at a time when international consulting firm McKinsey said in a report last year that "the value of Africa's pharmaceutical industry jumped to $20.8 billion in 2013 from just $4.7 billion a decade earlier. That growth is continuing at a rapid pace", and predicted that "the market will grow into a $40 billion to $65 billion by 2020".

McKinsey said the projected growth was good news for pharmaceutical companies seeking new areas of growth as developed markets stagnate, adding that it was equally so for "patients who have gained access to medicines previously unavailable on the continent".

Mckinsey's projected that between 2013 and 2020, prescription drugs are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of six per cent, generics at nine percent, over-the-counter medicines at six percent and medical devices at 11 percent.

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