SUNDHED, MEDICO OG BIOTECH

HEALTH, MEDICO AND BIOTECH

Jordan is one of the important markets for medicals, pharmaceuticals and related supplies in the Middle East, therefore providing an important gateway to the region. With Jordan’s regional role, the pharmaceutical industry in the country itself is thriving, with local production of several medicals and 80% of the production being exported, but also making room for import of more complicated products and equipment.

Introduction:

Jordan has a well developed health care system by regional standards. There is a nationally important pharmaceutical sector producing medical equipment and medicine. There is still a rather large quality gap between the local products and the imported products. Thus there are market opportunities in both export of products that are not produced locally, and equipment for production of medicine. Besides that the medical tourism in Jordan is blossoming, enforcing these two possibilities. Lastly, the rapidly developing sector of pharmaceutical production is creating opportunities to outsource the production of pharmaceuticals to local producers.

Market indicators:

The population of Jordan is 5.7 mn, with a rather young demographic profile (around 40% under 15 years of age and 55% aged 15 to 64 years). Most of the Jordanians are living in urban areas and 90% of those live within a mile of a health facility and can use a range of healthcare providers from the public service, NGOs, and private facilities.
According to WHO, Jordan has made major health achievements during the last two decades especially in decreasing the infant mortality rate and life expectancy, and expanding the healthcare coverage. Yet, the country is still facing important challenges related to technical, administrative, and funding problems.

The Jordanian health system is a multifaceted mixture of highly fragmented public and private programs. The healthcare services in the public sector are accessible through the Ministry of Health, Royal Medical Services, Jordan University Hospital, and King Abdullah University. In addition, there are smaller public programs carried out by several NGOs, the largest of which is the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) providing healthcare services to Palestinian refugees. This being said, the public sector deals with basic health care, whereas the private sector is the focus point of tertiary health services. Thus a growth of the private health sector can currently be observed, with especially private hospitals expanding.

Jordan is one of the important markets for medical and related supplies in the ME region. This is mainly due to the active and large investments in both public and private healthcare sectors across the country. The major presence of importers and distributors in the Jordanian healthcare sector, with most of them having the essential marketing and after-sale-service facilities, creates good infrastructure for exploring the market opportunities.

Relevant indicators

Sources: WHO Statistics, Jordanian Ministry of Health, Statistical Year book, Jordan.

The local production of medical equipment is still far below the international standards and needs time to be at the level of that in developed countries. The main locally manufactured/assembled products are such as beds, medical dressing, syringes, light optical products, and some dental supplies. Therefore, the local market of medical equipment is to a large extent dependent on imports. Private and public hospitals, specialized centres, and private clinics are the main end users. Imports of medical equipment (customs item no. 9018) are in the range JD 25 – 28 mn annually, and are around JD 52 mn if taken with other items for the health care (i.e., no. 9019, 9020, 9021, and 9022). The main exporters are from Germany, France, Japan, USA, and UK. The Danish exports of medical equipment to Jordan are in the range of JD 1 mn annually (2007)

According to the Jordanian Association of Manufacturers of Pharmaceuticals & Medical Appliances (JAPM) there are 17 registered Jordanian pharmaceutical companies, covering around 50% of the domestic market, and in 2004 employing more than 4,000 persons (around 3.5% of the industrial employment in the country). It ranks the second largest exporter in the country (10% of total exports) and generates around 20% of the country’s GDP.  Exports of pharmaceuticals are around JD 306 mn in 2007, with 80% of the production being exported, mainly to US and EU and neighbouring countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and UAE. From this, Jordan Investment board are expecting a 20% growth rate in the coming years.
The Scientific Council for Pharmaceutical Industries, under Ministry of Health, strictly monitors this industry, being totally initiated by the private sector. Many of the companies have established business relations with major worldwide manufacturers (1) benefiting from the relatively low labour cost compared to the costs in the original production countries. The sector has specialised in producing branded generics, though some companies have also secured approval of their products from health authorities in USA, Sweden, UK and Germany. In 2005, about 70% of the production was made under special license agreements with well-known manufacturers in EU and other countries, not including Denmark.

Import of pharmaceuticals is monitored by the Ministry of Health. For some years, imported pharmaceuticals have been vaccines, insulin, blood derivatives, hormones, and special medicine and preparations for cancer, skin diseases, and others. The country’s annual imports of pharmaceuticals are in the area of 227 mn JD in 2007. The import of pharmaceutical products from Denmark was 7 mn JD in 2007. On the other hand export of pharmaceuticals in 2007 was around 316 mn JD.

Market trends:

The pharmaceutical manufacturers have seen good growth rates within the last three years with exports reaching growth rates of 15-20% As the major markets for the exports of medical products are experiencing hard times, the strategy to keep the export rates growing include upgrading the standards for the highly regulated markets like EU and USA, to diversify the products, and open up new markets. This will possibly create a demand for more products to aide the manufacturing of higher standard and different products.

In general, the demand for medical equipment and services is expected to increase, with the increasing number of government and privately owned hospitals, medical tourists, new equipment for hospitals under construction, renovated equipment to replace existing equipment in functioning facilities, upgrading clinics and health care structures, expanding health insurance coverage, and shifting from older conventional methods to modern treatment methods.

Medical tourism is one of the growing industries of Jordan due to the competitive prices, and by regional standards high quality of the treatments in the country. Thus both regional and overseas visitors are found on medical trips to the kingdom. According to the Private Hospital Association there are more than 200.000 foreign patients visiting annually and the revenue is estimated at JD 1.4 bil. There is a great emphasis on increasing this lead position with the building of new private hospitals both in Amman and Ma’an. This, coupled with the Jordanian effort to increase the range of quality treatments offered, opens up possibilities for firms with expertise in these fields.

The Jordanian pharmaceutical industry has started to employ more innovative researches and the producers have gained access to new export markets. In 2005, this market was estimated at JD 98 mn and the local pharmaceutical industry is targeting $1.0 billion exports before 2011, but the financial crisis may be a major obstacle to reaching this goal. To counteract this, there is a severe pressure to open new markets for the medical industry.
Jordan has responded to the intellectual property obligations and many companies have now obtained international accreditations from EU enabling them to export to the European markets. The increase in respect for intellectual property rights has paid off with an increase of presence of the international research based pharmaceutical industry, for example Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and Merck. Thus Jordan attempts to become the leading knowledge country in the region, and focuses on covering a greater span of products, and applying innovative methods, as to increase its exports.

Market assessment:

The market of more complex and specialised medical equipment in Jordan, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), C-T scan, X-Ray, and some lab supplies and articles, is reasonably significant. It does need special attention and incessant follow-up by both exporters and local partners in terms of especially maintenance and continuous professional training.

As the pharmaceutical industry is a true leading industry in Jordan with promising future potentials, and because of its ability to meet the commitments of intellectual property rights, it is expected to attract large amounts of foreign investment in the field of research and development.  There are good opportunities for the Danish medicine manufacturers to explore licensing agreements and joint ventures with Jordanian competent manufacturers.

The country has perspectives in the pharmaceutical industry of antibiotics, anti-ulcerates and in new areas, such as hormones, AIDS and cancer drugs, biotechnology drugs and herbal medicines. These are more complex pharmaceuticals that are currently not produced locally, or where the standard does not live up to the international standard, making Jordan a good market for export of these, as the demand is rising.

To conclude, the three major possibilities within the pharmaceutical industries in Jordan are within export of medical apparatus for production, export of advanced pharmaceuticals and using the possibilities for production within Jordan to export cheaper to the surrounding region.

Danish companies in the medical and pharmaceutical business are encouraged to consider exploring the Jordanian health care market by asking the Embassy or relevant collaborators for up-to-date evaluations. Details on the market status, suitable partners, and potential customers can be procured through the Embassy.

Relevant links:

Jordanian Ministry of Health  : http://www.moh.gov.jo/MOH/En/home.php

Medexpo conference
http://www.biztradeshows.com/trade-events/medexpo-jordan.html

WHO’s country profile of Jordan: http://www.emro.who.int/emrinfo/index.asp?Ctry=jor

Jordan Food and Drug Administration:
http://www.jfda.jo

Jordan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association:
http://www.japm.com