Current status and vision of local pharmaceutical industries in Saudi Arabia: The focus on nanomedicines

Abdulrahman A Halwani; Bander Balkhi; Abdullah A Alamoudi; Nada H Almozain; Areej M Alajmi; Abdulwahab Noorwali; Moutaz Y Badr; Ahmad O Noor; Alaa Bagalagel; Essam A Tawfik

doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2023.06.007

Current status and vision of local pharmaceutical industries in Saudi Arabia: The focus on nanomedicines

Saudi Pharm J. 2023 Aug;31(8):101674. doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2023.06.007. Epub 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

Abdulrahman A Halwani^{1

2}, Bander Balkhi³, Abdullah A Alamoudi¹, Nada H Almozain⁴, Areej M Alajmi⁵, Abdulwahab Noorwali^{2

6}, Moutaz Y Badr⁷, Ahmad O Noor⁸, Alaa Bagalagel⁸, Essam A Tawfik⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
² Regenerative Medicine Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Kyowa Kirin International Company, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics Institute, Health Sector, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Pharmaceutical nanomedicine products are expected to impact the global pharmaceutical market and healthcare system significantly. Since 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved over 80 nanomedicine products for marketing; an additional double that number is currently being tested in clinical trials. The nanomedicine market is expected to reach USD 350.8 billion by 2025 from USD 138.8 billion in 2016. This demonstrates the importance of nanotechnology to the delivery of pharmaceuticals. The main benefits of employing nanotechnology to distribute therapeutic agents include reducing the undesired toxicity from non-specific distribution and increasing patient adherence, which can indirectly minimize the burden on the country's healthcare system. Such products are expected to gain a significant economic impact on Saudi Arabia's pharmaceutical drugs market once they get developed locally.

Method: A descriptive and cross-sectional study, including a web-based questionnaire and a complete categorization of pharmaceutical products formed by the national industries in Saudi Arabia, was utilized to investigate the current and future direction of pharmaceutical manufacturing exploiting nanotechnology in the Kingdom.

Results: The survey showed an apparent lack of willingness within the national pharmaceutical industries, as the majority (≈ 86%) of the leading Saudi companies cannot enable nanotechnology-based medicines in their manufacturing. However, more than 93% of the national pharmaceutical industries, upon the basis of the responses, agreed that the development of pharmaceutical products with nanotechnology is an important step toward solving various complications associated with conventional forms of the available medicine.

Conclusion: National pharmaceutical industries in Saudi Arabia will need to get closer to manufacturing nanomedicines by partnering with international pioneer companies. In addition, empowering the local research and development (R&D) centers in nano delivery systems could facilitate translating their R&D outcomes into novel advanced and commercialized products. This could imitate the direction of the global pharmaceutical market and share its revenue which will positively reflect on the Kingdom's economy.

Keywords: Generic; Healthcare; Manufacturing; Nanomedicine; Nanotechnology; Pharmaceutical industries; Saudi Arabia.