H.E. Dr. Hilal bin Ali bin Hilal Al-Sabti, Minister of Health, inaugurated today (Wednesday) the Philex Pharmaceuticals manufacturing company in the Salalah Free Zone.

The manufacturer is an important contributor to securing the Omani markets with the pharmaceutical needs in the first place. It also seeks to export locally manufactured products to the GCC and Arab countries, as well as the African market shortly.

The manufacturer, built according to international standard specifications, currently has local and global opportunities and operational plans. The drug products are marketed in Oman, Qatar, and other countries.

The project included three stages of development; establishing an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturer and a development & research center. In the current stage, the manufacturer plans to produce more than 100 pharmaceuticals, including various types of medicines and vaccines in the next stages with a production capacity of one billion tablets and one billion capsules annually for the first stage.

The manufacturer is the most recent project in the pharmaceutical field in the Sultanate of Oman, aiming to shift the Salalah Free Zone to a regional center for pharmaceutical & biological industries with investments of about $ 150 million.

The Ministry of Health stresses the importance of strengthening pharmaceutical security in the Sultanate of Oman. Therefore, the Directorate General of Pharmaceutical Affairs & Drug Control (DGPADC) of the Ministry of Health seeks to localize the industry of medicines and medical supplies by coordinating with the concerned authorities, as well as encouraging and attracting investments in the field of drug manufacturing.

The DGPADC issued the Guidelines for Licensing Manufacturing Plants for Human Medicines, Herbal Medicines & Medical Devices to clarify all related procedures and requirements in each licensing phase.

Last year, the number of existing drug and medical supplies manufacturers in the Sultanate of Oman reached 14, including (7) drug manufacturers and (7) medical supplies manufacturers. There are (9) other manufacturers under construction (7 for medicines and 2 for medical supplies). From 2015 to 02/01/2023,    the number of requests that were given initial approvals to establish pharmaceutical and medical supplies manufacturers reached 60 requests.