فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Moroccan pharmaceutical companies are grappling with major challenges due to market monopolization by powerful industrial and import lobbies. The market is flooded with foreign medicines amid a complete lack of transparency and unfair speculation on essential drug prices. This situation leads to soaring treatment costs, placing a heavy burden on families and threatening public health.
Causes of the Crisis
Several companies dominate basic drug categories in the local market, with significant weaknesses in monitoring the quality of imported raw materials and a lack of transparency regarding company profits. Many medicines are sold in Morocco at prices 250% to 1000% higher than in other countries. For example, a medicine imported for 10 dirhams may be sold locally at 70 or 80 dirhams.
In addition, numerous essential medicines have disappeared from the national market and pharmacies due to poor inventory management by importers and weak enforcement of relevant laws.
Consequences of Lack of Transparency and Price Manipulation
The absence of transparent pricing and conflict of interest issues obstruct citizens’ access to treatment, as a small group of companies controls prices and floods the market with sometimes counterfeit or low-quality medicines. This imposes significant financial burdens on Moroccan households and threatens the stability of the health coverage system. It also endangers the future of the social security fund, which faces rising compensation costs linked to drugs.
Proposed Solutions
There is growing demand for intervention by policymakers to combat monopolies, adopt public policies supporting the local generic drug industry, and enforce strict price and quality controls. Activating the Competition Council’s role to curb unfair speculation and implementing regulations to ensure sector transparency and integrity are also essential.
The current situation reflects a structural crisis in managing Morocco’s pharmaceutical market, where the absence of oversight and transparency hinders the protection of public health and weighs heavily on citizens, especially amid rising drug prices and shortages of vital medicines.
