Pharmaniaga joins push into MENA with Saudi JV
pharmafile | May 29, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â MENA, Pharmaniaga, SaudiÂ
Malaysian drugmaker Pharmaniaga has formed a joint venture in Saudi Arabia as it starts a push into the fast-growing Middle East and North Africa (MENA) pharma market.
The agreement with Modern Healthcare Solutions covers a 15-year period and will give each company a 50% stake in the JV, which will set up and run a manufacturing facility near the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The Saudi Arabian pharma market is one of the biggest in the MENA region, estimated to be worth around $5.4 billion last year and tipped to reach more than $6 billion in 2013 thanks to a rapidly expanding population, according to data from Business Monitor International. BMI ranks the country as the fifth most attractive pharma investment destination out of all 30 MENA countries.
The new JV will look beyond the Saudi borders and try to serve the entire local region, bringing into range a pharma market already valued at around $28 billion and expected to grow at double-digit rates throughout the next decade.
The new facility will be based at Sudair Economic City (SEC), one of four large-scale business parks set up by Saudi government to help encourage inward investment into the country.
Among the big pharma firms Pfizer has been inspired to set up operations there, starting construction last year of a solid dose manufacturing, packaging, and warehousing facility at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) that is due to open in 2014. Sanofi is also in the process of building a plant at KAEC to make drugs for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
Meanwhile, news of Pharmaniaga’s move into MENA comes as Hikma Pharmaceuticals has set up a $400-$600 million warchest to finance acquisitions in the region, according to local news reports. Hikma bought Egyptian pharma company EPCI in a $22 million deal in January.
Other notable developments in the MENA pharma market in recent months include Ranbaxy Laboratories’ decision to build a plant in Morocco, a JV between Merck Serono and United Arab Emirates-based Neopharma, and the opening of regional offices by Boehringer Ingelheim in Algeria and Apotex in Saudi Arabia.
Phil Taylor
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