Egyptian Drug Authority Denies Rumors of Widespread Medicine Price Hikes in January 2027

The Assistant Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA), Yassen Ragai, has officially refuted circulating reports suggesting a repricing and price increase for approximately 40 pharmaceutical items set to take effect in January 2027. Ragai firmly stated that there is no prior approval for any medicine price hikes during that period.

These rumors gained traction on social media, with statements attributed to Ali Ouf, the Head of the Pharmaceuticals Division at the General Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, indicating that the EDA had approved repricing nearly 40 pharmaceutical products starting next January. However, in direct statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Ragai clarified, "There is no such thing as approving an increase in medicine prices in January from now; this is completely incorrect."

The Assistant Chairman further elaborated on the EDA's process for handling price adjustment requests. Pharmaceutical companies do submit requests to the authority for repricing specific items. These requests are then subjected to a thorough inspection and review to assess their impact on production costs and determine if a price adjustment is indeed warranted.

Regarding the number of requests, Ali Ouf revealed that the Egyptian Drug Authority has rejected around 90 percent of the price adjustment requests submitted to it. He explained that companies had submitted approximately 400 requests, but the authority agreed to study only about 10 percent of them, with these studies commencing in January 2027. Ouf reiterated to Al-Masry Al-Youm that the EDA meticulously reviews price movement requests from companies and examines the production costs of the presented items to ascertain the feasibility of price adjustments. The rejection of the vast majority of these requests, he noted, signifies that the authority perceives no immediate need to adjust the prices of these particular items.

The authority's approach to such requests is not one of automatic approval. Instead, applications undergo rigorous examination and review to verify the extent to which production costs have been affected and whether these changes justify a price adjustment. Ouf pointed out that the study of the requests, which constitute about 10 percent of the total applications, is directly linked to cost reviews to identify items that might require price adjustments. He confirmed that any final decisions on these requests are contingent upon the outcomes of these studies and evaluations.

Ouf further indicated that there will be no general movement in medicine prices before the end of 2026. Cost and request reviews are scheduled to begin in January 2027 to determine if specific items necessitate price adjustments. He emphasized that any potential price adjustments would be strictly tied to the results of these cost reviews, rather than being a blanket decision for all medicines. Items whose production costs do not warrant an adjustment will remain at their current prices.