Saudi Chemical agrees $27m GlaxoSmithKline manufacturing deal

GSK House, the headquarters of the pharmaceutical giant in the UK. (Supplied)

• Five year deal will bring pharma manufacturing to the Kingdom
• Partnership could help spur jobs localization

RIYADH: Saudi Chemical Company Holding (SCCH) has struck a deal with GlaxoSmithKline to make pharmaceutical products in the Kingdom.
SCCH unit AJA Pharmaceutical Industries will team up with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Saudi in a five-year production deal worth SR100 million ($27 million), the company said in a Saudi stock exchange filing on Thursday.
The new partnership would help create more jobs for Saudis in the Kingdom’s pharmaceuticals sector said SCCH CEO Thamer Al-Muhid,
“Our mission is to be the partner of choice,” he said.
Saudi Arabia aims to diversify its economy away from oil by adding more high value jobs at home and replacing imports with domestic manufacturing in key sectors such as pharmaceuticals.