Boehringer Ingelheim has closed a local production agreement in Saudi Arabia with Cigalah and Tabouk.
Tabuk is a pharmaceutical manufacturer while Cigala is a health care distributor with strong local infrastructure.
Under the contract, Cigalah and Tabuk will manage and drive complex secondary packaging projects for 26 Boehringer Ingelheim products from starting point to finished goods.
This deal is a first milestone towards Boehringer Ingelheim’s goal of local primary manufacturing in the Kingdom.
Boehringer has already established end-to-end capabilities in Saudi Arabia and will continue to increase its own local investments in the pharmaceutical sector.
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.
Local production in Saudi Arabia currently meets only about 15% of national demand, while Saudi health care spending is forecast to grow from 3.5% of GDP in 2010 to 6% by 2020.