Diabetics no longer have to look abroad for some of their meds. Eva Pharma has started producing and selling locally-manufactured insulin glargine in collaboration with US-based Eli Lilly for the first time in the country, CEO Riad Armanious said at a press conference yesterday attended by EnterpriseAM. The company’s facilities have the capacity to make 80 mn doses annually, the head of the pharma company added. Insulin glargine is synthetic, long-acting version of the human hormone.

(Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

The project has been in the works for a while now, with the two companies announcing an agreement almost exactly two years ago to partner on the project. Under the agreement, Lilly committed to supplying Eva Pharma with the active ingredient used to make insulin at a reduced price, as well as tech transfer to help Eva Pharma manufacture the diabetes meds.

There’s high demand for insulin here at home, as diabetic patients made up approximately 15.5% of Egypt’s adult population as of 2017. The state spends around EGP 3 bn annually on treatments for non-communicable diseases, with diabetes being a primary focus, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said at the press conference

Insulin sales in the local market reached approximately EGP 1.1 bn by the end of 3Q 2024, with some 1.5 mn packs sold, with a compound annual growth rate of 19% over the past five years, Egyptian Drug Authority head Ali Ghamrawy said at the event.

Demand for insulin is high at home and abroad: There’s plenty of demand for insulin exports and the company has already signed MoUs for export to 56 countries, Armanious told EnterpriseAM. Eva Pharma aims to export USD 100 mn of insulin annually by 2030, with the first shipments expected to start within two weeks to Libya and Uganda.

The start of production will see Egypt become a net exporter of insulin glargine, with Eva Pharma’s production line expected to move Egypt from importing 6 mn doses annually to exporting 74 mn doses, according to Abdel Ghaffar. Egypt’s insulin imports amounted to approximately USD 30 mn in the first nine months of 2024, Ghamrawy said.

Eva Pharma also has its eye on producing other types of insulin and is awaiting approval from the Egyptian Drug Authority to introduce human insulin injections into the local market. The company is also working with the World Health Organization to obtain pre-qualification for the drug, Armanious told us.

A big year for Eva Pharma: The firm in October got the license to manufacture and supply low-cost versions of lenacapavir — a prescription used to treat HIV. Eva Pharma was one of a handful of companies granted the license from biopharma company Gilead Sciences to produce and sell the drug in 120 low-income nations.

Tags: