Egyptian parliamentarians call for clarity on the safety and efficacy of locally produced insulin as the country aims to boost domestic drug manufacturing while ensuring quality standards for life-saving medicines.
Ahmed Bilal Al-Berlasi, a member of Egypt’s House of Representatives and deputy head of the Tagammu Party’s parliamentary bloc, has asked the government to explain how effective and safe locally made insulin is for diabetes patients, after complaints over treatment response. His intervention comes as Egypt continues to push to localise more drug production, a policy he says is vital to national health security but must be matched by firm guarantees on quality, efficacy and safety.
According to Al-Berlasi, expanding the manufacture of generic medicines can help cut import costs and protect foreign currency reserves, provided patients are not asked to accept treatments that do not meet the standards of the original products. He said Egypt now has four companies producing generic insulin and that domestic output is said to meet the market’s needs, reducing the need for imports.
The issue is especially sensitive because insulin is a life-sustaining medicine for millions of people with diabetes. In December 2024, Egypt marked the production of its first locally made insulin batch, and the Egyptian Drug Authority said by the end of the third quarter of 2024, 1.47 million doses had been sold, worth 1.13 billion Egyptian pounds, trimming the import bill by $30 million. Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said at the time that 15.5% of Egyptians are diabetic, including 55,000 children, and that the country needs 17 million doses a year.
Even so, research published in 2024 suggests that insulin treatment outcomes remain uneven. One Egyptian study found that while most patients reported good adherence to prescribed medicine, insulin use was still not enough to achieve target blood-sugar control for many people, underlining the need for better education and more individualised treatment. Another 2024 study found major gaps in knowledge and practice among both patients and pharmacists, which it said could lead to mistakes in insulin use and poorer outcomes.
Al-Berlasi has therefore pressed the government to publish the evidence behind the claimed equivalence of local insulin to imported versions, including the results of any bioequivalence and clinical testing, and to spell out how regulators monitor quality and safety. His warning reflects a wider tension in Egypt’s pharmaceutical strategy: local production may strengthen supply and reduce costs, but for a drug as critical as insulin, confidence in performance is just as important as access.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
