The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Khalid Ait Taleb, said on Tuesday that the sustainability of social protection will depend on the national pharmaceutical policy, stressing the need to lower drug prices in Morocco.
Before the Chamber of Councillors, the Minister of Health answered oral questions about the encouragement and support of the pharmaceutical industry sector in Morocco, presented by the groups Authenticity and Modernity as well as the General Confederation of Morocco.
Ait Taleb insisted on the need to lower drug prices and encourage the industry and the use of generic drugs, stressing that this requires agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The ministry is working to set up the national pharmaceutical industry incentive program, focusing on encouraging the use of generic drugs with the structuring of clinical trials, the promotion of investments in transformative industries accompanying the pharmaceutical industry, such as raw materials and packaging materials, export encouragement, and supporting and accompanying medical equipment industries, he said.
The signing of an investment agreement recently between the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the PHARMA 5 laboratory aims to guarantee national sovereignty in terms of medicines, in accordance with the High Royal Guidelines, added Mr. Ait Taleb, explaining that it is the first class 4.0 factory in Africa. The Minister also stressed the need to find ways to supply the raw materials that serve the pharmaceutical industry in order to ensure true health and pharmaceutical sovereignty, as well as to invest and establish partnerships with industrialists in the field of research and innovation in order to support the rapid changes and developments in the health sector.