Recent economic and industrial developments in the Gulf Countries 
(comprising mainly the six “Gulf Cooperation Council” (GCC) states Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman plus Iran) have made the region an attractive and thriving market for the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is prospering and as the growing and aging population demands better care, and total healthcare expenditures per capita continues to grow.
Prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity, population growth and rapid urbanization are just a few reasons why governments of the Gulf Countries are heavily promoting initiatives in the public and private sector to establish an increasingly self-sufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing base with the following objectives:
- Reduce dependency on imports
- Lower governmental expenditure on healthcare
- Provide high caliber jobs for local citizens
- Increase availability and quality of healthcare products and services to the population
- Diversification of economy and attraction of foreign direct investments
Yet, the local pharmaceutical industry is at a crossroads: limited workforce resources, changing regulations, and limited research and innovative products capabilities are just a few issues the industry is battling in the Gulf Countries. Consequently, governments, manufacturers and Logistics Service providers (LSPs) have no alternative but to make decisive changes to their supply chains if they want to successfully overcome these challenges and capitalize on the significant manufacturing and distribution opportunities of this rapidly growing market.
This market report was conducted by our Pharma and Supply Chain experts Mohammed Dayazada and Melanie Lenhardt in cooperation with the 1st BME Global Pharma Supply Chain Congress 2016. It examines the current situation of the pharmaceutical market in the Gulf Countries and provides an outlook to the future by outlining the opportunities and challenges for the pharmaceutical industry as well as analyzing potential for manufacturers and LSPs within the pharmaceutical supply chain. In addition, it describes the incentives governments are offering to improve the industry.