Datlabs eager to permeate region
BULAWAYO headquartered pharmaceutical and healthcare products manufacturer, Datlabs Limited, says the drive to harmonise registration regulations for pharmaceutical products across Southern Africa is critical in assisting the company and other local producers to penetrate regional markets.
Datlabs chief executive officer, Mr Todd Moyo told Business Chronicle that the registration process
in foreign markets and the influx of Asian products were major stumbling blocks for local products
to penetrate the markets.
“The main challenge with pharmaceutical products is the registration of the products in different
regional locations as each country has its own set of registration rules, which tend to differ from
country to country,” he said.
Mr Todd Moyo
“These registration processes are also quite costly and normally take a long time before approvals
are granted,” said Mr Moyo in written response to the Business Chronicle.
“However, even after successful registration, the products face stiff competition mainly from
products from the Asian countries that enjoy economies of scale and lower cost structures.
“There are efforts to harmonise registration laws across Sadc countries and that should assist local
companies penetrate regional markets. For other non-registered products the cost of entry into
those markets is still high but hopefully we can work with other enablers to enter more foreign
markets.”
Mr Moyo said the giant pharmaceutical firm has a range of products as its source of strength but
quickly clarified that personal care products such as Camphacare have done well since their
introduction into the market despite pressure from imported products.
The critical care products have the potential to do well in future, he noted.
Mr Moyo said for the sector to make inroads in foreign markets, it needs to produce quality
products at lower costs.
“From the Government we need an enabling legal and economic environment to produce at lower
costs and be able to access foreign currency and funding whenever required,” he said.
“We can only be successful in foreign markets when we also do well at home.”
To stay afloat in the local market, the pharmaceutical firm is looking at new product lines and
ensuring that products are available in the market.
Camphacare
“Datlabs has been operating just above the average industry operating capacity for some years and
aims to improve as we move forward. We continue to look at new products that will assist us with
the current disease patterns but it takes time to register pharmaceutical products through the
processes and develop these in the market,” said Mr Moyo.
“We have made sure that the quality products we manufacture and supply to the market are mostly
available for our customers at competitive prices.
“We also now have a Statutory Instrument that ensures that the pharmaceutical products
manufactured by at least two local companies are purchased locally.
“We have co-operated as an industry to make sure that we do as much as possible for the local
private and institutional market.”
Last year, the Government launched a Pharmaceutical Strategy for 2021-2025, which targets to
increase the market share of local pharmaceutical products from 12 percent to 35 percent by 2025.
The strategy is also targeted at increasing the local production of essential medicines from 30
percent to 60 percent by 2025 while sales revenue of local production will increase from US$31,5
million to US$150 million during the same period.
Exports in pharmaceutical products are expected to go up from 10 percent to 25 percent by the
year 2025.-chronicl.o.zw
