Imports of medicines: The drivers behind a sustained increase

According to the latest figures from the Foreign Exchange Office, medicine imports rose from 9.5 billion dirhams during the first nine months of 2025 to 14.9 billion dirhams between October 2025 and February 2026.

This significant increase, according to industry professionals, recalls the record trend observed in 2021, when imports rose from 6 to 12.5 billion dirhams.

While the 2021 increase was justified by the importation of vaccines during the COVID health crisis, the current trend reflects, according to the Moroccan Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AMMPS), “a structural shift in the national pharmaceutical profile rather than increased dependence on imports.”

The Moroccan market is transitioning toward biological and biotechnological products, whose production costs are inherently higher than those of conventional chemical drugs, due to the complexity of manufacturing processes and the technological requirements they entail.

The AMMPS continues: “The current increase is mainly driven by biological and biotechnological medicines: monoclonal antibodies, cell therapies, complex biosimilars, as well as certain innovative oncology or immunology treatments whose patents are still under protection.”

Indeed, several factors explain this trend. First, the rise in therapeutic needs, driven by the increase in chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, cancers), which mechanically pushes demand upward.

Added to this is the continuous introduction of innovative treatments, often costly and not yet produced locally, which increases the import bill.

Furthermore, recurring tensions affecting certain locally manufactured medicines, linked to supply disruptions in raw materials or industrial trade-offs, are leading the authorities to rely more heavily on imports, particularly through temporary import authorizations (ATI).

Another explanatory factor is the limitation of national pharmaceutical production in certain therapeutic classes, particularly biotherapies and next-generation medicines. Despite advances in the local industrial base, part of the demand remains difficult to substitute in the short term.

The market depends on imports for nearly 40%

In this context, the increase in imports appears less as a temporary imbalance than as a symptom of a model in transition, caught between the imperative of access to care and the ambition of local production.

Officials from the regulatory agency therefore assert that “there is no increased dependence on imports.

As local biotechnology production capacities develop, the share of these imports in the pharmaceutical balance will gradually be reduced.”

For the AMMPS, this dynamic is fully aligned with the royal vision and constitutes a concrete operational translation of it.

Pharmaceutical sovereignty is at the heart of the Agency’s mandate, which approaches it in its full complexity, because, according to internal sources, “it cannot be reduced to the mere manufacture of generic chemical drugs.

Morocco aims to move upmarket toward biosimilars and biotechnology-based products, in line with global therapeutic trends.” The Marbio project is a concrete example of this.

It represents a successful model of technology transfer in the vaccine and biological products segment. The AMMPS intends to build on this experience and extend it to other strategic therapeutic classes.

At the same time, discussions are underway regarding the local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and pharmaceutical inputs, in order to structurally reduce dependence on external supplies.

The expansion of medical coverage, combined with growing demand for care and higher therapeutic requirements, is increasing this pressure.

At the intersection of these challenges, the Agency positions itself as a central regulator, called upon to constantly arbitrate between market openness and the protection of the local ecosystem.

Designed as a lever of sovereignty, it now holds expanded powers, notably the granting of marketing authorizations, control of distribution channels, monitoring of stocks, and regular inspections of operators.

On the import front, its role has been significantly strengthened with the implementation of stricter regulatory mechanisms.

Availability and compliance with standards

Among the more structuring responsibilities of the AMMPS is the issuance of the mandatory health clearance for imported medicines.

This procedure is intended to ensure their compliance with national standards, secure their traceability, and enforce the obligation of periodic reporting of imported volumes—a measure that enables close market monitoring and better anticipation of shortage risks.

Ensuring the availability of medicines being its primary mission, the Agency has, as part of its recent reorganization, established a dedicated unit: the Pharmaceutical Market Monitoring and Surveillance Service (SVSMP), attached to the National Pharmaceutical Strategy and Policy Division.

Its work is based on a proactive monitoring system incorporating early warning indicators, aimed at anticipating supply tensions before they escalate into actual shortages.