Domestic Pharmaceutical Bio 'Barren Land' Saudi Arabia... "Now Becoming a 'Land of Opportunity'"

Saudi Arabia Shows High Income Levels but Low Health Indicators
Mostly Dependent on Imported Medicines... Korean Share Less Than 1%

Inter-Ministerial Networking Boosted by State Visit
"More Opportunities to Enter Local Market Expected"

President Yoon Suk-yeol on a state visit to Saudi Arabia [Image source=Yonhap News]

With President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to Saudi Arabia, the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industry is also anticipating a 'Middle East boom.' Saudi Arabia's industrial structure is heavily concentrated on the oil industry, resulting in a high national income level, but its self-sufficiency rate in pharmaceuticals is low, and the number of chronic disease patients due to dietary habits is increasing, making it an attractive emerging market for domestic companies. It is expected that as networking between the relevant ministries of the two countries increases, there will be more opportunities to enter the local market.

According to related ministries on the 24th, Korea and Saudi Arabia agreed to cooperate in the health sector on pharmaceutical-related collaboration, vaccine and drug development, diagnostic tools, and addressing the global issue of antibiotic resistance. On the 22nd, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen cooperation in the food and medical products sectors and promote joint research and educational exchanges. A Ministry of Food and Drug Safety official explained, "The MOU was signed with the purpose of supporting domestic companies' export expansion to Saudi Arabia."

The pharmaceutical and bio industry evaluates that a foothold has been established to enter the Saudi market, which has so far been almost a frontier. Saudi Arabia is also the largest pharmaceutical market in the Middle East. The pharmaceutical market size exceeds 10 trillion won. An agent representative said, "In Saudi Arabia, a business culture of building relationships with local government officials is dominant, so continuous cooperation with regulatory agencies is important."

Saudi Arabia, with a high average national income level, is seeing an increase in chronic disease patients such as diabetes and hypertension due to Westernized dietary habits. One in four adult Saudi men suffers from obesity or diabetes-related diseases. It is known that 25% of the population has hypertension and 6% suffers from cardiovascular diseases.

On the other hand, with a total fertility rate of 2.5, Saudi Arabia's population is on the rise. Last year, the population was 35.4 million, a 6% increase compared to 33.4 million in 2018. Half of the population is under 30 years old, leading to a prevailing forecast that the pharmaceutical market will expand significantly in the future.

However, Saudi Arabia has been a challenging market for the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industry to enter. There is a high preference for pharmaceuticals from advanced countries such as Europe and the United States locally, and products that have been approved and sold in those countries are more easily accepted. Otherwise, the product approval application process alone takes at least 12 months. This is why 70% of Saudi Arabia's pharmaceutical imports come from European global pharmaceutical companies such as those in Switzerland and Germany, and 15% from the United States.

Nonetheless, with the activation of cooperation between the two countries due to this state visit, opportunities are expected to increase. So far, Korea's share in the Saudi pharmaceutical import market has been less than 1%.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is actively knocking on the door of the Saudi pharmaceutical market. Daewoong Pharmaceutical applied for product approval for the gastroesophageal reflux disease treatment 'Pexuclu (Pexuprazan Hydrochloride)' and the SGLT-2 inhibitor class diabetes treatment 'Enblo (generic name: Inavogliflozin)' in January and August, respectively. A Daewoong Pharmaceutical official said, "Given the local characteristics of Saudi Arabia, where it is difficult for individual domestic companies to enter the market independently, we hope this state visit will serve as a catalyst for business expansion."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.