Health Ministry refuses to define “chronic diseases”

The Health Ministry will not respond to pharma manufacturers’ calls to define what chronic diseases are, Al Mal said. It is “a nonsensical request,” the ministry said, as this should be the companies’ basic knowledge, according to Al Mal. Pharma producers haveasked the government to define for them what it believes to be a treatment for chronic illness as those will not see their prices changed. Separately, pharma producers are reportedly saying that only with the medication price increases agreed to by the government will they be able to reach a cumulative sales volume of EGP 50 bn in 2017, Al Borsa reported. The pharma division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries expects the sector’s sales to have recorded EGP 40 bn in 2016.