1. KIMADIA
Kimadia is a very popular word among executives within the pharma industry in Iraq or those who developed interest in this
untapped market. Kimadia is a government agency regulating the import and distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical
equipments in Iraq. It operates under the Federal MOH in Iraq.
Kimadia was established in 1964, but it has grown to its present weight in the industry after the first gulf war and specifically in 1995
when the Oil-for-Food Program (OFF), established by the United Nations (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) with the stated
intent to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi
citizens without allowing Iraq to boost its military capabilities.
Until 2004, Kimadia management had a preference to work with regional companies for political reasons. This non-technical decision
impacted the healthcare and pharma market in the country and shifted the utilization from brand oriented customers to overpriced
Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian generics as the legal and regulations of multinational companies forced them to leave this politically
controlled market.
Today, Kimadia has even a stronger position and announced its budget for 2012 as 1.5 Billion USD. Registered drug items shall be
increased massively from 850 to 1250 with a budget of over 600 million USD, while the plan includes 9250 medical devices and
products.
The local production, 6% in 2011, is an integrated part of Kimadia’s plan with a vision to increase production to 10% in 2012. The
local manufacturer has a legacy in competing with regional products at their production countries and with this ambitious plan;
SAMARA might be back to its old position.
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2. The budget also includes a 200 million USD for new operation theaters, 80 millions USD for Vaccinations and a significant portion for
research.
In 2009, Kimadia suffered from a fire due to unclear reason at three of its floors in Baghdad. A dramatic incident resulted in a lost for
all original contracts and tenders.
The power to determine what pharmaceutical products are bought and at what price have shifted dramatically in the past decade
from physicians to payers in the developed world, and the region is catching up very fast. Kimadia, among many other regulators
and agencies in the Middle East, plays a role in the payer- pharmaceutical relationship.
Nobody believes pharma can approach the next ten years using the methods of the last ten. Change is imperative, and a new
approach to institutional customers needs to be part of that change. Today’s unit price–based relationships are not only adversarial,
but less and less able to produce useful results for either side. But in trying to go beyond them, the industry has continually been
frustrated by regulatory constraints.
The global market has plenty of great ideas on how to partner with payers to create value. The trick is to get any of them through
legal and then how to customize them to match the local requirements.
We at the Institute of HealthCare Research at Cambridge Academy for Higher Education in the United Kingdom believes that the
challenge is to develop tailor made strategies that work in today’s market and creates a pathway for the Middle East. The Institute
offers a unique combination of more than 2,000 researchers from the Middle East enrolled into graduate programs offered by the
Academy, and led by the top ranked local experts in healthcare & pharma industry and backed by academic support of the
Academy’s professor and faculty in the UK and the affiliated in the region.
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3. For the Institute of HealthCare Research
Cambridge Academy for Higher Education
Emirates Towers, level 41
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
P.O Box 31303
Info@cahe.co.uk
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