Algeria exports $52m of medicines and medical devices in 2025, minister says

Ouacim Kouidri, minister of the pharmaceutical industry, said in Algiers on 20 October that Algeria exported pharmaceutical products and medical devices worth nearly $52m in 2025.

Algérie Eco reported that the minister spoke at a study and training day on pharmaceutical exports, attended by officials from ministries and export bodies.

The exports went to 33 countries in 2025, 18 of them in Africa, the minister said, a total that Maghreb Emergent also reported.

The minister said Algeria had hosted the African ministerial conference on local production of medicines and other health technologies in November 2025. He said export contracts with several countries were agreed at that conference, and that they show the confidence Algerian medicines enjoy.

The minister said the industry had made notable progress over five years in its production capacity and industrial base. He added that this progress had made national pharmaceutical sovereignty possible.

"The time has come to move to a new stage, focused on making the best use of our production capacity and turned towards foreign markets," Kouidri said.

The minister also said Algeria has nearly 30% of the pharmaceutical factories on the African continent.

A first national list of essential medicines

The minister announced that Algeria has adopted its first national list of essential medicines. He said the list will set national priorities for keeping essential medicines available, for building production capacity and for investment in priority medicines, including for export.

For producers, the list points investment towards the priority types of medicine, with exports to foreign markets in view. For readers in Algeria, the list is meant to keep essential medicines available over time, but no source gives a date from which it applies.

The expert committee, set up a few months ago, checks that the list matches the national production and import programme, based on treatment needs. Its members include representatives of several ministries, the National Health Security Agency (ANSS) and the National Agency for Pharmaceutical Products (ANPP). They also include the Central Hospital Pharmacy (PCH), the Pasteur Institute of Algeria and experts chosen by their professional bodies.

What comes next

Younes Bouarara, director general of Saidal Group, told reporters on the same day that the group exports to more than 10 African countries. He said the group is working to develop this direction.