The insulin bottles will be manufactured for the first time in Algeria after the entry into activity of the production unit of insulin pens in Boufarik (Blida), belonging to the Novo Nordisk laboratories.
The launch of the insulin production operation in vials by the Saidal unit in Constantine will take place from March 19th. This is the main announcement made this Thursday by Ali Aoun, Minister of the Pharmaceutical Industry, during his field visit to the production unit of the Saidal group in Cherchell. The insulin bottles will be manufactured for the first time in Algeria after the entry into activity of the production unit of insulin pens in Boufarik (Blida), belonging to the Novo Nordisk laboratories.
It allowed a reduction of 1000 DA per unit, in the price intended for diabetics, with a quality similar to that of imported pens with a forecast of satisfaction of all national needs in 2024. Thus, Algeria will cover between 40 and 50% of the country’s insulin needs with the objective of saving 200 million euros in 2023.
The insulin import bill costs the public treasury between 400 and 420 million euros annually. In addition and during the inspection of the production unit of the Saidal group in Cherchell, the minister expressed his “disappointment at what he discovered”, denouncing “the poor management and lack of exploitation of the equipment of production by manufacturing only two therapeutic classes”. He denounced “the mismanagement of the administration at a high level”.
Mr. Aoun affirmed that Saidal will no longer benefit from privileged or special treatment, stressing that the measures will be applied with firmness since the group benefits from public funds.
With a view to improving the group’s performance and management, he instructed the CEO of Saidal, Fatoum Akacem, who has been in this position since February 11, 2020, to “apply efficiency contracts and dispense with bad managers. Ali Aoun does not understand how Saidal, flagship of the Algerian pharmaceutical industry in the 1980s, has fallen so low.
Saidal, which covered 45% of the needs of the national market, currently covers only 2%, a substantial drop in terms of drugs produced by the group from 350 to 50 drugs!
Strengthen health sovereignty
The minister who knows this company very well, having been in charge as chairman and managing director of the Saidal group from 1995 to 2008 and managing director of the Central
Hospital Pharmacy (PCH) from April to September 2022, wishes to rehabilitate it and upgrade and accelerate the already approved reinvestment plan.
But the medium-term objective is to guarantee the availability of pharmaceutical products and strengthen “health sovereignty” and also create added value, increase the rate of integration and be more competitive on external markets. The President of the Republic himself has given directions to relaunch and promote the Saidal company to enable it to play a leading role on the national and African markets and attaches particular interest to this file.
After a period of grace, Ali Aoun raises the tone vis-à-vis the managerial staff of Saidal, guilty in his eyes “of not having applied the instructions of the ministry”. He added that he would take all punitive measures from next week, especially after a deadline given to the group 6 months ago, but officials ignored the instructions.
Mr. Aoun indicated that the digital platform of the ministry does not contain any figures of the group, nor any inventory, any raw materials, nor the volume of stocks intended for marketing, while all operators are obliged to present a report. weekly on the state of their stocks and the production threshold.
This measure, far from being a bureaucratic formality, aims to guarantee traceability and better control of the availability of medicines. A kind of dashboard which thus makes it possible to anticipate in order to avoid recurrent stock-outs each year and the tension on certain essential drugs.
These situations are extremely detrimental and will “negatively impact an increasing number of patients”, particularly in an emergency medicine setting, but also for people living with chronic illness.
