The Pharmaceutical Market: Saudi Arabia added to Piribo.com

Dec. 26, 2010 - PRLog -- The Saudi pharmaceutical market is the richest in the Gulf region. The private pharmacy sector tends to favour branded pharmaceuticals but is marked by tight price controls. The leading companies operating in the sector are GlaxoSmithKline and SPIMACO; the latter is rumoured to be interested in the acquisition of an Egyptian pharmaceutical producer in 2010. The public sector, more generic-led, is dependent on oil revenues and is characterised by cost-containment and late payments for tenders. There is little domestic production in Saudi Arabia, therefore the vast majority of the market is provided by imports. However, Saudi Arabia imports a large amount of semi-finished medicaments, some of which are then re-labelled, repackaged and exported.
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There are a few major domestic manufacturers in the country. Locally made pharmaceuticals supply only around 15% of the market, and the rest of the output is mainly exported to other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Joint-venture projects are rare, due to the adverse and complex regulatory situation, although the number is increasing gradually. Several manufacturers from other Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran, Jordan and the UAE, are active in the Saudi Arabian market. Manufacturers from developed countries have been noticeably less keen, GlaxoSmithKline-Banaja and the Tamer-Japanese SAJA consortium being notable exceptions. In July 2010, sanofi-aventis announced the construction of a manufacturing plant in the country.

The SFDA published regulatory drafts with guidelines for biologics in March 2010; they are expected to be implemented in June 2010. The SFDA also published a regulatory draft with guidelines for biosimilars in October 2009. In terms of research, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has identified biotechnology as an area of investment in the country. Pharmaceutical biotechnology is mainly represented by the Jeddah BioCity complex, which operates seven companies: Arabio, Blood Derivatives International (BDI), Environmental Services Development (ESD), Genway, Jeddah Biopharma, Jeddah Bioscan and RetHab. Additionally, there is a network of advanced laboratory & research centres, some of which work with pharmaceutical producers. In October 2010, the Saudi Ministry of Health signed an agreement for vaccine production with Arabio and Novartis.

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Saudi Arabia Pharmaceutical Market Research
http://www.piribo.com/pharmaceutical_markets/middle_east/...

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