Union Camerounaise Pharmaceutique

completed

UC-Pharm will mainly import and sell pharmaceuticals to local pharmacies, as the only medicines produced in the country are intravenous solutions and a few pharmaceuticals in tablet forms (paracetamol, chloroquine, etc.). Its purchases will be handled by Bureau d’Achat Afrique Antilles (BAA), a central purchase house owned by Pharmaci. These pharmaceuticals will transit in the large warehouse Pharmaci owns in the Rouen harbor, France, while waiting to be shipped.Pharmaceuticals received by UC-Pharm will be taken out of the containers, registered, stored and sold to Cameroonian pharmacists. A computerized systems will help UC-Pharm track on a real time basis its orders, inventories and deliveries. Total pharmaceuticals market in Cameroon is estimated at CFAF 50 billion (US$69.0 million), including about CFAF 40 billion (US$55.2 million) for the private market. This market has been growing at a rate of 7.5% p.a. UC-Pharm expects to have a 30% market share.The project would have strong development impacts, including: (i) the development of competition in Cameroon’s pharmaceuticals distribution market; (ii) promotion of generics and pharmaceuticals manufactured in African countries; (iii) capacity building, as Cameroonian pharmacists will now be involved in the entire distribution chain of pharmaceuticals and (iv) significant redistribution effect, as part of the sector profit, including trade bonuses from pharmaceuticals manufacturers, will be paid back to a large number of Cameroonian pharmacists. The proposed IFC investment is critical, as the Cameroonian financial sector is not in a position to provide either the long-term financing the project needs, due to the short-term nature of its resources and its risk-aversion to new projects. In addition, under the Regional Central Bank regulations, obtaining IFC’s guarantee would actually help the participating banks increase their lending ceilings and soften the decrease in their prudential ratios resulting from their loans to UC-Pharm.