Sumantha Chaudhary, adviser of Mumbai-based
Pharmexcil, and director Rollins John during a presentation at the agency’s
offices in Mumbai on June 9, 2025/ Eliud Kibii.
Kenyans just
like other Africans will continue to dig deeper into their pockets to buy drugs
imported from India due to unfavorable business regimes.
According
to officials of India’s Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexil), Indian
firms are forced to incur additional costs such as recurrent approval and
inspection costs, promotion and marketing expenses and transport costs.
Further,
due to delayed registration and lack of regulatory harmonization, countries in
Africa are not getting the latest drugs, and by the time the products get to
the market, prices have already changed.
Sumantha
Chaudhary, the adviser of the Mumbai-based Pharmexcil, said it takes between
four to five years for Indian companies to get approvals and get drugs to the
continent, which means availability of such medicine and vaccinations is
limited.
“If then it
takes that long, it means it will come at a higher price. Treatment becomes too
expensive, and you will be surprised that some patients find it cheaper to
travel to India for treatment”, Chaudhary told journalists from East and
Southern Africa in Mumbai Monday.
Chaudhary added
that lack of harmonized and coordinated platforms for African states to import
drugs and vaccines was also a bottleneck.
“For
instance, the EAC had indicated it would jointly recognize approval of drugs
for supply across the community but this is yet to happen. This means it takes
more time dealing with each state separately. Institutions mandated with
regulation in Africa need to find a way of streamlining the approval
processes,” he said.
In this
regard, they noted that the disjointed small markets and the weak intra-African
trade — despite AFCTA — have been among the contributing factors to the
challenge of supplying to Africa, as well as even establishing manufacturing
bases on the continent.
“Take for
example you are manufacturing a syrup in Nairobi. You would still need to get
almost all the materials, including bottles, from here [India] because they are
not available there. This means it will end up being very expensive, a cost
that is passed on to the product.
“And while
they can be trained, you will still need to have adequate technicians for
manufacturing,” he added.
Rollins
John, a director at Pharmexcil added that there is need to incentivize
investors by having coordinated regional agreements that would allow a firm
establishing in one country and able to supply across the region.
“If we set
up in Kenya, and can only sell within the country, that will not be sufficient
for survival. That company must be able to sell across the neigbouring
countries for commercial viability.
“Unfortunately,
the intra-country relationship is not so strong to allow this arrangement to
happen,” John said.
Pharmexcil
is a state agency mandated with the promotion of pharmaceutical exports from
India.
It was set
up under Foreign Trade Policy by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in May
2004 to facilitate exports of Indian pharmaceuticals and allied products. These
include bulk drugs, formulations, biotech products, Indian systems of
medicines, herbal products and diagnostics, as well as clinical research.
India’s pharmaceutical exports to Africa have
exhibited a strong upward trend over the past two decades, rising steadily from
$75 million in 2007 to nearly $3.93 billion in 2025, a more than fivefold
increase.
Kenya was
the third top destination for Indian pharmaceuticals in 2024-2025 after South
Africa and Nigeria.
“South Africa remained the top destination despite a 5.62%
year-on-year fall, followed by Nigeria and Kenya, which showed moderate growth
of 5.36% and 3.71% respectively … Countries like Zimbabwe (91.55%), Kenya
(48.29%), and Nigeria (45.17%) witnessed sharp increases, indicating a rebound
in demand,” Pharmexcil data says.