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Indian alliance for 2 major UAE pharma projects

Mridula Krishna in Dubai

Two major pharmaceutical projects are being set up in the United Arab Emirates with Indian collaboration. These include a $20-million plant in Abu Dhabi.

Businessman B R Shetty's New Medical Centre group, one of the largest private hospital and pharmacy chains in the UAE, is finalising contracts for the pharmaceutical plant.

The NMC group has hospitals in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah and handles 2,000 patients a day.

The second project in the offing in Dubai with the participation of an Indian company, the 65 million dirham GlobalPharma project, is due to be commissioned by the year-end, reports say.

GlobalPharma is a joint venture between India's Kopran and Dubai Investments. The company plans to start commercial production by the year-end and is targeting the international market.

The venture will initially produce a range of medicines for approval by local and Gulf Co-operation Council authorities before distribution begins six months later.

The GlobalPharma plant has been designed and built in accordance with international standards with the help of consultants from Britain and Switzerland.

Indian pharmaceutical exports to this region are very low and observers say there is major potential for growth. They say very few Indian firms have been able to make a dent in the UAE market due to restrictions on drug imports.

Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) is the UAE's only national pharmaceutical firm.

The Gulf pharmaceutical market was valued at just under $1.4 billion last year. GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

Saudi Arabia is the largest market in the region ($900 million), followed by the UAE ($190 million), Kuwait ($135 million), Oman ($65 million), Qatar ($38 million) and Bahrain ($37 million).

Around 95 per cent of medicines used in Gulf countries are imported from Europe, except for Bahrain that also obtains them from Egypt.

Indo-Asian news Service

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