Pharma giant GSK Egypt’s stock briefly touched a record EGP 609 yesterday before cooling off to close 5.77% higher on the day at EGP 550, according to market data. This is the latest leg of a staggering run that has taken the stock from just EGP 71.48 on 1 July to yesterday’s peak, marking a 670% jump in under six weeks. Trading volumes have also exploded, climbing from roughly 28.7k shares in early July to a peak of 2.41 mn shares late last week.

And it’s not just GSK: The pharma board has been on a tear. Egyptian International Pharmaceuticals (Eipico) hit an intraday 52-week high of roughly EGP 179 yesterday, taking its gains since 1 July to 74%. The stock emerged as the EGX’s most heavily traded paper in the first week of August with some EGP 3.9 bn in turnover. Since early last month, Nile Pharma has gained 156%, Memphis is up 63%, and Rameda has climbed 33%. The stocks haven’t moved in lockstep, but they did rally together on 3 August, when all four jumped between 12.7% and the 20% daily limit.

What’s driving it? That’s less clear. GSK has already filed three disclosures with the EGX since 19 July distancing itself from anything that could explain the rally. It denied knowledge of any material developments behind the price moves (here, pdf), clarified that a USD 110 mn AI drug-discovery agreement belongs to its UK-listed parent rather than the Egyptian business (here, pdf), and said its MoU with the Egyptian Drug Authority is focused on training and carries no material impact on its local operations (here, pdf).

REFRESHER- This isn’t GSK’s first unexplained run: The EGX also queried the company over a sharp share-price move back in December 2021, only to get much the same answer it is getting today.

OUR TAKE- Is this starting to look like Egypt’s first proper retail meme-stock episode? GSK ran on news that belonged to its parent, kept climbing even after the company said so in writing, and three disclosures later, buyers are still piling in. Now other pharma names are catching the same bid. The common thread looks less like fundamentals or fresh corporate news and more like retail momentum running ahead of reality.

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