Developing a world-class pharma plant in Saudi Arabia

To meet the requirements of a new Saudi law requiring a proportion of the manufacturing process to be executed in the kingdom in order to be allowed to sell drugs in Saudi Arabia, a number of multinational companies launched projects to develop local production capabilities.

To this end, Pfizer Saudi initiated the development of a new $50 million solid dose manufacturing facility for the production and packaging of pharmaceuticals, based at the King Abdullah Economic City on the west coast of the Red Sea, approximately 100km north of Jeddah.

Wood was involved in providing multidisciplinary services for this new pharmaceutical facility from the earliest days of its inception in 2010 right through to construction and production trials.

Our services, executed in co-operation with a local engineering partner, included a wide range of activities through the entire project life cycle (site master planning, conceptual and basic design, detailed engineering, subcontracting support, technical support to the appointed main contractor during the construction phase, as well as final commissioning and qualification management).

This grassroots secondary facility produces solid dosage forms, and includes manufacturing, primary and secondary packaging, and support areas (QC labs, warehouse, services, staff support areas).

The total developed surface area of the new plant is in the range of 11,000 m² and it has a production capacity of 18 million packs per year. The site was formally opened in 2017.