 "drugs, medical, medicine")
Indian drug firms are exploring opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), an $8.9 billion pharmaceutical (pharma) market, as the latter is keen to procure more pharma products from India.
“About three months ago, a delegation from KSA visited India and held stakeholder meetings. The KSA market has stringent regulatory authorities, and drug approvals take time. KSA is now interested in sourcing drugs made in US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA)-approved or other stringent regulatory body-approved plants in India,” said Sudarshan Jain, secretary-general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), a pharma industry body.
IPA members account for 60 per cent of the domestic market and about 80 per cent of India’s exports of pharma products.
Jain added that Indian players are exploring opportunities to either set up manufacturing units in KSA, or they can opt for local stockists in that market. He further said that India can be the supplier of quality-assured drugs to meet the medicine requirements in KSA.
The KSA pharma market size was around $8.9 billion in 2022. The vaccine and biologics market size in Saudi Arabia is around $2.3 billion with an approximately 17 per cent cumulative growth rate.
KSA can serve as a gateway to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which has a market size of $130 billion.
Speaking to Business Standard, Saransh Chaudhary, president, global critical care, Venus Remedies, and chief executive officer, Venus Medicine Research Centre said that their seven manufacturing facilities are approved by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).
Chaudhary said that the SFDA is a stringent regulatory authority and thus is considered a benchmark in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Venus Remedies, which has been present in the KSA market for 13-14 years now, has a pipeline of 10-15 drugs which they plan to launch in KSA in the near term.
At present, KSA accounts for 12-15 per cent of Venus Remedies exports, and Chaudhary expects this to scale up further with the interest that KSA is now taking in sourcing Indian drugs.
Chaudhary said, “The health care spend in KSA as a percentage of gross domestic product is high, and therefore, it is a significant opportunity for Indian generic pharma products. Moreover, there is a central procurement agency for GCC where an SFDA-approved plant is considered a benchmark of sorts. Therefore, this opens up doors to other countries in the region too.”
At present, only 3-4 per cent of India’s $25-26 billion pharma exports go to KSA.
Among other major Indian companies, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals too is keen on the KSA market.
“Glenmark has a significant presence in the Saudi Arabia market. We recently launched our first branded specialty product, Ryaltris, which will enable us to strengthen our position in the region. With this recent development, we look forward to broadening our footprint within the GCC region,” V S Mani, executive director and global chief finance officer, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals told Business Standard.
Industry insiders felt that there is an opportunity for Indian pharma companies to set up full-scale local production of complex generics.
“India has the highest number of USFDA-approved sites outside of the US. If site approvals are streamlined and pricing issues are addressed, then India can become a large supplier to KSA,” said an industry veteran.
Pricing has been an issue so far when it comes to KSA importing drugs from India.
“They were looking to procure USFDA quality drugs at Indian prices, which is not viable. Now they are more open to offering a better price,” the industry insider quoted above said.
