Algeria Plans Strategic Pharmaceutical Hub to Supply Africa with Medicines
Algeria plans to establish a strategic pharmaceutical center aimed at supplying African countries with medicines and essential health products, Pharmaceutical Industry Minister Ouassim Kouidri said Monday, October 5.
Speaking at the second International Conference of the National Council for Pharmaceutical Ethics, held in Algiers under the theme “National Sovereignty and African Openness for Sustainable Health,” Kouidri said Algeria’s pharmaceutical industry has undergone significant development in recent years.
The country’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector now comprises around 230 companies, while pharmaceutical production reached $4.9 billion in 2025. Domestic production currently covers 82% of the national market’s needs by value, with 95% of output manufactured through fully integrated production processes, according to the minister.
As part of efforts to strengthen industrial integration in pharmaceutical manufacturing and meet the needs of African and international markets, Kouidri highlighted the recommendations adopted at the African Ministerial Conference on Local Production of Medicines and Health Technologies in Africa, held in Algiers in November 2025.
He described the conference as an important milestone in strengthening continental cooperation by promoting local production, developing partnerships, facilitating the transfer of expertise and bringing greater regulatory convergence among African countries.
The meeting concluded with the adoption of the “Algiers Declaration,” as well as the signing of several contracts for the export of Algerian pharmaceutical products to African countries, including Mauritania, Mali and Senegal.
Several cooperation agreements were also signed between Algeria’s National Agency for Pharmaceutical Products and its counterparts in various African countries. These agreements are intended to facilitate the mutual registration of medicines and help ensure their availability to patients.
Kouidri also stressed the importance Algeria attaches to studying and supporting African initiatives, particularly those led by the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Such initiatives, he said, offer opportunities to deepen continental cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector and develop joint mechanisms to support local production while ensuring the availability, quality, efficacy and safety of medicines and medical supplies across Africa.
The minister said Algeria is also working to strengthen cooperation with international institutions and organizations with a view to developing a project for an African strategic pharmaceutical platform based in Algeria.
The proposed platform would support the supply of African countries with medicines and essential health products, particularly vaccines and other priority products.
According to Kouidri, the platform would bring together and integrate Algeria’s national capabilities in pharmaceutical production, regulation, logistics and technology transfer.
The initiative is intended to reinforce South-South cooperation, strengthen health security across the continent and contribute to the development of a more integrated African pharmaceutical system.