Generics poised to drive pharmaceutical market in Botswana, as govt aims to create an indigenous industry

The land-locked African nation of Botswana does not yet have a pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and thus, all drugs are imported. In an attempt to improve accessibility to essential medication and diversify economic activity, the government is launching private-public partnership (PPP) initiatives to kick-start local pharmaceutical production, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan.

Through government-backed PPPs, the expectation is that prices would come down as a result of the availability of locally-manufactured generic drugs, notes the author of this research. Lack of technical capability has been one of the main deterrents to local drug production, although the trend towards partnering Indian and Thai generic drugmakers should, in the medium- to long-term, help ease this constraint, he said.

Increased availability of low-cost generic drugs is poised to drive uptake of drugs. As patents on major drugs are expiring, the availability of generic alternatives in Botswana is on the rise. Mass treatment programs which had relied on donated branded drugs are now switching to cheaper generic versions, states the analyst. Local production of generic drugs, once in place, is set to expand coverage of these mass roll-out programs.