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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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The rapid development of Kenya's pharmaceutical industry provides excellent opportunities for exporters and manufacturers. Kenya is currently the largest pharmaceutical producer in the COMESA region, supplying about 50% of the pharmaceutical market in the region.
Kenya's prescription pharmaceuticals market is worth over $500 million and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8% till 2020. Prescription drugs account for around 78% of the market. However, the fastest growth in the coming years is expected in the over-the-counter (OTC) product sales.
The pharmaceutical industry in Kenya consists of three segments namely the manufacturers, distributors and retailers. All these play a major role in supporting the country's health sector, which is estimated to have about 5,000 health facilities countrywide.
The number of companies engaged in manufacturing and distributionof pharmaceutical products in Kenya continue to expand, driven by the Government's efforts to promote local and foreign investment in the sector. There are about 700 registered wholesale and 1,300 retail dealers in Kenya, manned by registered pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists. These pharmacies are accorded a 25% mark-up on retail drugs. The pharmaceutical sector in Kenya is also engaged in assembling capsules, disposable syringes, paracetamol, and surgical gauze amongst others.
Kenya spends about 8% of its GDP on health. The Kenya Medical Suppliers Agency (KEMSA), a division of the Ministry of Health, largely carries out the distribution of pharmaceutical products in Kenya. It distributes drugs to government public health facilities and private health facilities.
Increasingly, urban consumers constitute Kenya's primary market segment, while private hospital pharmacies remain the principal vendors within the market’s urban sector.
Cardiovascular, diabetes and anti-infectives constitute the largest and fastest-growing prescription market segments, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is reported to be Kenya's leading pharmaceutical supplier, with around 12% market share. This is primarily due to the fact that the company reduced the prices of key products by approximately 40% a few years back. Around 41% of all anti-infective products sold in pharmacies were licensed to GlaxoSmithKline.
GlaxoSmithKline has been able to garner a substantial share of Kenya's pharmaceutical market largely due to the popularity of its anti-infectives, which account for approximately 42% of all revenues generated in the prescription sector. The prices of Amoxil (amoxicillin) 500mg, Suprapen (amoxicillin plus flucloxacillin) 500mg and Floxapen (flucloxacillin) 500mg are particularly competitive within the respective active ingredient classes
Cardiovascular is Kenya's most dominant and fastest-growing prescription market segment, worth around $40 million in 2017 and expected to show a CAGR of 15.4% to 2019, while the diabetes market was valued at approximately $35.2 million last year and is forecast to rise at a CAGR of 13.5% during 2010-2019.
Based on revenue segmentation, the top-selling cardiovascular product in Kenya was Nebilit [nebivolol) 5mg, licensed to Menarini, accounting for approximately 7% of revenues for all prescription products sold.
And within the diabetes therapeutic segment, Merck Serono's Glucophage (metformin) 500mg was the most popular product, based on volume segmentation, accounting for approximately 19.8% of all oral hypoglycaemic tablets sold.
