Pharmaceutical Industry In Sudan

Pharmaceutical production in Sudan began in the year 1961 with the establishment of the first facilities in the country under the name the factory of the Sudanese Industries for Trade. Followed by opening the factory of Pharmaceutical Industries in 1963, and a factory affiliated to the British Company Nicolas in 1964, the American company Winthrop entered the market and opens their factory in the year 1975. The year 1982, witnessed the establishment of the company Sigma Tau (Sudan) Ltd.

In recent years, the sector of pharmaceutical manufacturing revived a little bit, and new companies emerged in the market, in order to fill the huge gap of medical needs, in spite of the enormous leap in the industry; still the gap is not filled. Currently there are seventeen (17) factories for medical needs, drugs, medical cotton, gauze etc. operating in Sudan, these factories deal with about 30 active elements and transform them into modern pharmaceutical products, giving a total of 63 medical compounds spread over variety medicine groups.

Worth mentioning, there is a lack of exploiting the production capacities of existing factories in general and the total production does not exceed 30 per cent of the designated capacity. There is room for further expansion to fill the present gap by adding new lines of production for the manufacturing of other therapeutic groups such as eye drops and rhinal, laryngeal and dental medicaments.

The pharmaceutical industry in Sudan requires certain essentials and must conform to the specifics of the medical industry due to its crucial bearing on the lives of the Sudanese people. The industry is in serious need of redevelopment and is dependent on hard currency to enable the import of raw materials, packaging and spare parts.

The public sector in Sudan has been made aware of the problems suffered by the local pharmaceutical industry in Sudan and has proposed a 10-year plan for its promotion, to be implemented in stages within the framework of the national strategy.


Investment Opportunities
Opportunities are wide open for people from all over the world to invest within the Sudanese pharmaceutical sector are in the following:

- Establishing new lines of production for tablets and capsules
- Manufacturing new varieties of medicaments within existing lines of production
- Manufacturing various medicine packaging sizes, especially for syrups
- Manufacturing spare parts and equipment necessary for the industry, such as mixers and containers

Emphasis has been placed on the importance of the production of venal solutions, creams, disposable syringes, plasters, bandages, gauze, disposable diapers and sanitary pads.

Medical research is also crucial for Sudan's development, in terms of the discovery and adoption of more effective and less toxic remedies.

The flexible rules adopted by the government, to establish any investment project are encouraging, specially after the a amazing economic performance, which help in increasing the personal income and enhancing the living conditions of the Sudanese people who change their life style and became more health conscious.

The factories operating currently are national, foreign and joint venture business, their success is a clear indicator to the stability of the pharmaceutical sector, which still wide open for more investment in order to fill the gap of the required medicines.