ضBoth Saudi Arabia and the UAE lead the Gulf pharmaceutical industry, as it is described as a promising market with a number of national pharmaceutical companies exporting their production to other countries.
The Gulf states are absent from the list of the world's 50 most exporting medicines. The data shows the extent of the decline in drug exports from Arab countries, which are led by Jordan with $ 468 million, then the UAE with $ 406 million, and Saudi Arabia is third, with total exports of $ 296 million.
The volume of exports of the Gulf states is about 69.9 million kilograms of medicines, with a value of about $ 722 million.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to increase its drug production and increase its share of local industrial exports, through plans that are aimed at this goal, the most recent of which was the announcement by the Egyptian "Multipharma" company for pharmaceuticals that it is going to establish a drug factory in Saudi Arabia, during the last quarter of this year 2021.
According to Reuters, the Egyptian project will cost two billion Egyptian pounds, equivalent to 127.4 million US dollars, in cooperation with a Saudi partner, and the goal of the project is to cover the Saudi market and go to the markets of the surrounding Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize the important pharmaceutical industries whose market size is estimated at 30 billion riyals (8 billion dollars), according to what Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef told reporters at the opening of the first virtual workshop to attract and localize pharmaceutical industries organized by the National Center for Industrial Development Under the slogan "sustainable pharmaceutical industry" last February.
According to Alkhorayef, the volume of investment in the pharmaceutical sector in the Kingdom is the largest in the region, as it exceeds 30% of the Middle East market, while the number of pharmaceutical factories registered in Saudi Arabia exceeds 40 factories, covering 36% of the Saudi market's need for medicines.
He added that the volume of growth in this sector is estimated at 5% annually, with exports exceeding 1.5 billion riyals ($ 400 million).
- Expanded products
The Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Supplies Company, known as "SPIMACO Pharmaceuticals", attaches high importance to maintaining drug security in Saudi Arabia in light of the Corona pandemic, focusing in its work on developing and diversifying the company's product range in various pharmaceutical sectors, and focusing on strategic products to contribute to achieving drug security. For the kingdom, according to the local newspaper "Okaz" reported in April 2021.
According to the CEO of "SPIMACO Pharmaceutical", Khaled Al-Khattaf, the total number of the company's products is 415 pharmaceutical preparations, and the company exports more than 234 products to foreign markets in 14 countries, and the company's production has reached more than 1.73 billion treatment units in 36 production lines during 2020.
The factory produces all pharmaceutical forms: tablets, injections, syrups, suppositories, antagonists, dry syrups, capsules and ointments.
The CEO affirmed that the company has maintained the first place deservedly, with 12.2 million prescriptions during the year 2020, and the highest market share among all international and local companies in the private sector, at 11.6%, and a difference of 1.7 million prescriptions from the nearest competitor.
Al-Khattaf also revealed the company's plan to expand pharmaceutical products, as the company has more than 50 new drugs under license that will be produced in SPIMACO pharmaceutical factories and its subsidiaries in the Qassim region and the Eastern Province, in addition to targeting 9 new countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.
- Global competition
Despite its short life, the UAE has become pharmaceutical factories seeking to compete globally, as the number of factories in this Gulf country reached 16 pharmaceutical factories producing 1000 medicinal varieties. It is expected that it will increase to 34 factories, and there are 47 Emirati national companies in this field.
The volume of the pharmaceutical industry in the UAE reached 9.61 billion dirhams ($ 2.9 billion) in 2016, and is expected to witness an 8% increase to reach 14.11 billion dirhams ($ 3.8 billion) in 2021.
Saqr bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar), revealed that the shareholders' equity in the company increased from 878 million dirhams (239 million dollars) to 1.267 billion dirhams (344 million dollars) after the successful completion of the rights issue in July 2020, and significant savings in selling and distribution costs.
According to the local newspaper, Al Bayan, in January 2021, Al Qasimi, speaking on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of Julphar, said that it achieved sales of 114.6 million dirhams ($ 31 million) in the first quarter of 2020.
He added that the company achieved a remarkable improvement in its financial results recently, as the value of sales reached 169.7 million dirhams ($ 46 million) in the second quarter, a growth of 90% compared to the second quarter of 2019, in addition to the growth achieved by the company in many of its main markets.
He pointed out that, during the third quarter of 2020, the company recorded sales of 186.9 million dirhams ($ 50.8 million), a quarterly increase of 10%, due to the growth in net sales, reducing expenses, and improving gross margin.
- National march
Julphar has 16 certified manufacturing facilities around the world, including 13 in the UAE, with an installed annual production capacity of 400 million containers of medication annually, according to Al Qasimi.
The company has the capacity to produce more than 6 million units of pharmaceutical packaging, in addition to the Biopharmaceuticals and Diabetes Solutions facility, which has the capacity to produce 1150 kilograms of active ingredient used in the production of recombinant human insulin crystals annually.
Al Qasimi explained that Julphar's internship center is unique among pharmaceutical companies, as it is recognized by the International Leadership and Management Organization in the United Kingdom as an accredited training center, and it is the only one of its kind in the region, as the center receives every year more than 3000 students from all parts of the world. The world to receive mixed courses for technical and professional training and development.
The company's exports amount to 80% of its annual production to 30 destinations outside the Emirates, represented by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Kuwait, by 20%, while the rest of the export destinations constitute 80% of the total export share.
The expansion operations also included the opening of new factories in both Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, "as part of our ongoing strategy to expand internationally," according to Al Qasimi.
- A constant pursuit
Other Gulf countries are continuing their tireless endeavors to establish an efficient national pharmaceutical industry that will serve the purpose locally and can be used for export. Especially because of the economic importance of the global pharmaceutical market.
Qatar was heading in this direction after the Gulf crisis that began in the summer of 2017 and caused an economic blockade that affected the Gulf country, and ended in early 2021.
The "Qatar Pharma" pharmaceutical company has worked to manufacture 150 medicines that are needed by the Qatari market, so that their industry will be localized locally after it was imported, while the total products produced by the company amount to 580 products, covering the needs of the local market and exporting abroad.
The most prominent products that the company's factories are working on are sterile intravenous solutions, antibiotics, heat-reducing products, and topical medications (creams and ointments).
Ahmed Al-Jufairi, owner and chairman of the Board of Directors of Doha Pharmaceutical Industries, says that the plant, which began construction in September 2018, using modern European technology, and following global regulatory standards used in all stages, will open in the middle of this year.
According to the local newspaper "Al-Raya", the factory will provide a number of medicines and medical drugs for the local market mainly, and the medical products will be distinguished by the necessary specifications, and will match their counterparts from other approved drugs.
Al-Jufairi added that the project will have a vital role in promoting the local and regional pharmaceutical industry, by providing various medicines at reasonable prices, and that the project is supported by the Ministry of Public Health and Hamad Medical Corporation.
He said that the factory, which will operate at full operational capacity within the next three years, aims to provide medicines and medical drugs that treat common chronic diseases, and will start producing more than 150 types of medicines in the first phase of operations, while its production will double to 300 items with the second phase. .
The plant's annual production capacity will reach more than 200 million doses of tablets and capsules, and in the next three to five years the number will reach more than 800 million doses, according to Al-Jufairi.
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