Africa
Kenya’s health
industry is
expected to
expand faster
than the country’s
overall economic
growth in coming
years, triggering
a healthy
increase in the
pharmaceutical
industry and
the associated
manufacturing
plant coating
processes and
equipment.
Pharmaceutical Coatings to Increase
as Kenya’s Health Sector Grows
by Shem Oirere
Africa Correspondent
Kenya’s health industry is expected to expand faster than the country’s overall economic growth in coming years, triggering a healthy increase in the pharmaceutical industry and the associated manufacturing
plant coating processes and equipment.
Pharmaceutical companies hold a substantial share of the worldwide coatings
industry through their coating of tablets,
capsules and other solid dosage forms of
medicine that continue to record increased
consumption globally.
The coating, which comes in the form of a
sugar coating, film coating or microencapsu-
lation, is necessary to protect the drug from
the effects of stomach acids and also to cush-
ion stomach linings from the product’s reactive
agents, according to experts. The coating comes
either as a sugar or polymeric to cover or mask
the drug’s taste, odor and also control how it is
dissolved and assimilated in the body.
Therefore, the anticipated expansion of the
Kenya pharmaceutical industry, with more than
35 licensed drug manufacturers, is expected to
fuel the use of coating solutions as both the
international and local industries in the country expand their operations. Their expansion
is also likely to result in increased investment
in hardware and software especially for automated coating systems.
Analysts and market researchers support
Kenya’s pharmaceutical industry growth pre-
diction on the back of “rising investor con-
fidence, increasing disposable incomes, good
economic projections and several marketing
initiatives by top brands.”
Global market researcher Euromonitor
International said in 2016, Kenya’s health
