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Saudi Arabia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2011
Business Monitor International, Dec 2010, Pages: 99
Saudi Arabia Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Saudi Arabia's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
In Q111, Saudi Arabia occupies fourth position of the 19 regional markets surveyed in BMI’s Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business Environment Ratings (BERs) for the Middle East and Africa, remaining unchanged from its Q4 position. Saudi Arabia’s pharmaceutical rating is 55.6, which is well above the average of 46.4 for the region. Globally, Saudi Arabia has dropped two places to occupy 40th position of the 83 countries surveyed. Saudi Arabia’s score is propped up by the country’s wealth and a sizeable population, rather than by the forecast annual growth of its drug expenditure, although its steady development is also a factor. The government is in the process of creating more public-private health partnerships and is encouraging private health insurance uptake, a factor which should provide momentum for increasing drug sales in the future.
The Saudi Food and Drugs Regulatory Association (SFDA) had approved the sale of specific medicines in outlets such as supermarkets, 24-hour highway shops, and medium and large-sized food stores for the first time. The products approved for sale include: capsules and tablets containing 500mg paracetamol; lozenges containing vitamins and minerals in their composition; preparations in the form of creams, gels and balms; lotions containing menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, or methyl acetate; and hand sanitisers containing isopropyl alcohol or ethanol. The SFDA has, however, prohibited the products from being sold wholesale by food stores or distributors.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has announced it will set up a vaccine manufacturing facility in conjunction with Swiss pharmaceutical major Novartis, which will supervise the technology transfer and manufacture of vaccines over the next two decades. Under the proposals, the new facility will produce a number of vaccines, including those used for meningitis, seasonal influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, haemophilus influenzae and Hepatitis B. The production facility is scheduled to commence commercial operations as of Q111.
As part of its efforts to improve healthcare provision, the Saudi government announced its intention to recruit 3,000 foreign doctors, marking a 5.5% rise on the 54,500 currently working in the country. The majority of those to be employed will be specialists and consultants, the presence of which is expected to increase healthcare and pharmaceutical expenditure significantly. BMI now forecasts that by 2014, pharmaceutical sales in Saudi Arabia will have risen to SAR18.45bn (US$4.93bn) and healthcare expenditure will have grown to SAR106.20bn (US$28.36bn).
In other developments, SPIMACO signed an exclusive market licensing agreement with US pharmaceutical major Merck & Co to manufacture, market, distribute and sell products under Merck brand names in Saudi Arabia. By using the Merck brand, SPIMACO will be able to expand its product market share and market penetration in Saudi Arabia’s brand-name driven pharmaceutical market.
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