Indian billionaire invests in pharmaceuticals in Egypt

EGYPT: An Indian-owned pharmaceutical company has got a license in Egypt to produce a drug used for treating Hepatitis C, a disease which is rampant in the country.

Pharmed Healthcare company, owned by the 71-year-old Indian billionaire Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, said that it will inaugurate in Sadat City, Monofia governorate, this Sunday a factory for producing "Sofosbuvir" drug, also known as "Sovaldi".

A statement issued by the company yesterday confirmed that the Minister of Health and Housing Adel El-Adawi will attend the inauguration of the factory, alongwith Vishvas Sapkal, Charge d'affaires of the Embassy of India and Hisham Abdel Basit, Governor of the Monofya.

The company said that it is the only company in the Egyptian market which has got a license to manufacture the raw material for the Sofosbuvir drug from the American company Gilead.

Notably, Egypt has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund. As many as 14.7 per cent of people between age group 15-49 have tested positive for the virus.

However, the company has not disclosed the volume of its investment or production capabilities of the new factory.