Medicines: A 10.4 billion MAD market driven by brand-name drugs

Over the first nine months of 2025, the private pharmaceutical market achieved a total turnover of 10.4 billion dirhams, recording an increase of 4.5% since the beginning of the year.

According to professionals, this growth is taking place in a context marked by stable demand and strong commercial dynamics from laboratories, but also by increasing pressure on prices and the availability of several new molecules.

In terms of volume, the market sold a little more than 280 million boxes. More precisely, 283,244,256 boxes. The distribution of this volume remains almost equal between the two categories of medicines. Thus, 142,762,063 boxes of brand-name drugs were sold compared to 140,482,193 million boxes of generic drugs.

However, this distribution reverses when looking at the market by value. Original molecules continue to dominate, totaling a turnover of 5.6 billion dirhams compared to 4.6 billion for generics. Thus, brand-name drugs capture 54.8% of the market share by value, while generics represent 45.2%.

This configuration, according to some industry sources, illustrates a structural phenomenon specific to Morocco. They believe that even if generics are consumed in volume, their low price limits their contribution to turnover.

Moreover, the price of brand-name drugs is often revised downward or aligned with the price of the generic once it enters the market. This explains, according to these sources, “why doctors continue to prescribe brand-name drugs even when their generics are available. It is a particular situation in our country, while in other countries the trend is rather toward strong prescription of generics because the original molecule is more expensive”.

Brand-name vs. generics, an economic duality

The evolution of the market illustrates the persistent difficulty in creating momentum around generics in Morocco. Despite their crucial role for accessibility and cost control for patients and social security organizations, generics remain hindered by a lack of incentives for manufacturers, hesitant patient perception despite awareness campaigns, and, finally, the absence of the right of substitution for pharmacists.

Conversely, brand-name drugs continue to benefit from perceived value often linked to innovation, prescriber confidence, and more active marketing.

The development of local production, the revision of the pricing model, and a proactive policy supporting generics could, in the view of several observers, “constitute major levers for better penetration of generics and therefore better accessibility and regular availability of medicines on the market”.

It should be noted that the latter has experienced disruptions in certain specialties, notably treatments for some chronic illnesses. Each year, the country records an average of nearly 300 notifications.

However, manufacturers emphasize that “there are no more stock shortages than usual. On the other hand, it is the disappearance of low-priced medicines that is becoming problematic and depriving many patients, knowing that self-medication remains significant in our country”.

These medicines are often abandoned by laboratories because they are considered “not profitable enough given manufacturing, import, and margin costs”.