Manufacture 75% of our products in the Saudi Arabian market inside the Kingdom by 2025

Sameh Al-Fangari, head of the Gulf and Pakistan Regional Cooperation Council at AstraZeneca, said in an interview with Al-Arabiya that his company intends to establish a leading research platform at Riyadh, which will have a global presence in global research and clinical trials related to biotechnology and the discovery of new and innovative treatments. Contribute to the growing public health needs of the Kingdom and the region.

Sameh Al-Fangari added that AstraZeneca has been working in Saudi Arabia for over 40 years and three years ago launched an ambitious plan to shift some manufacturing steps and invest in local manufacturing infrastructure to the Kingdom, which is supported by the MoU.

The head of the Gulf and Pakistan Regional Cooperation Council in AstraZeneca explained that the memorandum supports the achievement of the manufacturing rate of 75% of the company’s total products that meet the needs of the Saudi citizen to all his stages in Saudi Arabia by 2025.

He stressed that his company is fully aware of the Kingdom’s vision for 2030 and that local content is now a primary focus, followed by the launch of Saudi Arabia as a distribution platform to countries in the region and to supply to the rest of the countries in the region. of the Kingdom.

Sameh Al-Fangari explained that the AstraZeneca vaccine was not a primary target of the MoU, but that the MoU targets cooperation and the possibility of manufacturing in the Kingdom in the future, stressing that the localization of vaccines is a goal for the Kingdom. and most of the countries in the world now.

He pointed out that AstraZeneca aims to equitably distribute the vaccine to countries around the world, especially low and middle income countries, and then we proceed to localization of vaccines and confrontation of potential vaccines.

The head of the Gulf and Pakistan Regional Cooperation Council at AstraZeneca revealed that the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine on all mutants, especially on “Delta”, reached more than 92% and they were not exposed to infection, and 100% without death, after getting both doses.

He explained that there are countries that have started to approve a third dose, and in those countries promising results have appeared, and we are awaiting clinical trials whose results should be released at the end of the year to judge. , and who are the groups that benefit most from the third dose, in cooperation with regulatory authorities in this regard.

He continued, “It is not possible to judge the frequency of the vaccine each year, but the focus is currently on the third dose and its target groups, through clinical trials, and with obtaining the vaccine. , it will become clear that the vaccine can be obtained annually, knowing that there are currently no clinical trials in people under the age of 18. “.

The Saudi Ministry of Investment recently signed, within the framework of the Riyadh International Summit for Medical Technology, a memorandum of understanding with “AstraZeneca”, with the aim of strengthening the group’s activities in the Kingdom, in partnership with Health Affairs of the Ministry of the National Guard. .

The memorandum of understanding aims to improve the monitoring of its local manufacturing project with its local partners, up to the commercial supply stage.