New pharmaceutical deal to boost local production

Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading pharmaceutical company, has entered into a tripartite agreement for local production in Saudi Arabia with Cigalah and Tabouk.
This came from Boehringer Ingelheim’s interest in expanding in Saudi Arabia with innovative medicines.
Tabuk, the pharmaceutical manufacturing company, as a local manufacturing leader who wants to strengthen its products and services offering to Saudi patients, and Cigala as a major health care distribution player with strong local infrastructure — along with Boehringer Ingelheim, all have decided to combine scientific knowhow, technical expertise, and local infrastructure to serve the Saudi patients.
With this contract, Cigalah and Tabuk will manage and drive complex secondary packaging projects of 26 products for Boehringer Ingelheim from the starting point until full implementation to become finished goods.
This is the first milestone toward Boehringer Ingelheim’s future local primary manufacturing in the kingdom.
With Boehringer Ingelheim’s investment, interest to expand in Saudi Arabia and partnering with local manufacturing units, the company will be able to offer more innovative medicines for Saudi patients, helping them to improve health and quality of life.
In addition, the partnership aims to seed job opportunities, and act as a business driver where Boehringer Ingelheim contributes to the development of the overall pharmaceutical sector.
The company has established its full end-to-end capabilities in Saudi Arabia and will continue to increase its own local investments in the pharmaceutical space as well as local talent in order to drive socio-economic development; creating value for individuals and society as a whole.
The contract between the companies was signed by Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Serafi CEO consultant of Cigalah Group, Dr. Hamad Al-Khamees, general manager Saudi Arabia Tabuk and Mohammed Al-Tawil, general manager, Boehringer Ingelheim Middle East and Near East Area.
The local production in Saudi Arabia satisfies only 15 percent of the demand and imports account for 85 percent of the domestic market.
The locally-grown companies primarily make generic drugs, while some also undertake under-license manufacturing and packaging on behalf of multinational pharmaceutical companies for supply in the domestic and regional markets.
Th agreement will help to establish new capabilities and capacities and a more effective supply chain to support Boehringer Ingelheim’s ambitious business plan and expansion in Saudi Arabia.
As the health care expenditure is forecasted to grow from 3.5 percent in 2010 to 6 percent of GDP by 2020, this partnership marks a significant step toward meeting the demand for quality medicines in the region while strengthening the infrastructure to locally provide therapies at par with the international standards.
Mohammed Al-Tawil, general manager, Boehringer Ingelheim Middle East and Near East Area, said: “We are delighted to enter into an agreement with Cigalah Group and Tabuk.