Saudi Arabia eyes localising 200 medicines
Investors urged to utilise openings as drug plants post 25% growth
Cairo: Saudi Arabia is seeking to localise the manufacture of around 200 medicines as part of plans for attaining pharmaceutical security, a senior official has said.
Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Al Khorayef, said at a global health forum in Riyadh that the ministry has identified those medicines, noting that their manufacture in the kingdom constitutes a priority due to their paramount importance for achieving pharmaceutical security.
“Actual steps are underway to localise 42 of them in coordination and through integrated work with governmental and private agencies,” Al Khorayef added.
The kingdom, he said, is going ahead to become a hub for the regional drug and vaccine industry via partnerships concluded with major international drug companies.
The official urged investors to make use of opportunities available in the pharmaceutical sector in the kingdom where he said more than 8,000 medicines are in use.
According to him, the number of pharmaceutical and medical equipment plants in Saudi Arabia has grown by 25% in recent years.
The number of medical equipment factories rose from 54 to 150 factories, and the pharmaceutical plants from 42 to 56 over the period from 2019 to 2023 with an overall value of more than $10 billion, said the official, who is also the head of the Vaccines and Biopharmaceuticals Industry Committee.
The growth was stimulated by the adoption of cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. He added that healthcare is among the strategic sectors, which are at the centre of all-out development in the kingdom.