Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s Ministry of Health has assigned four companies to locally produce penicillin, a ministry spokesperson has said.

The companies that will be in charge of the local production of the drug are: Nile Pharmaceuticals and Chemical Industries, October Pharma, Misr Company for Pharmaceutical Industries (Holdipharma), and Medical Union Pharmaceuticals.

The decision comes as part of the ministry’s steps to reduce the country’s reliance on imports and in an attempt to avoid the repetition of the issue when many drugs were absent from the market, spokesperson Khalid Megahed told Al Shorouk newspaper.