Hankook Korus Pharm, a Korean biopharma, said Wednesday its affiliate GL Rapha visited Saudi Arabia to discuss with the local government ministries and organizations about promoting a biopharmaceutical project in the country.
The visit was organized at the request of the Saudi government, and Hankook Korus said that GL Rapha received a promise from the Saudi officials for government-level support.
According to Hankook Korus, the Saudi bio and pharmaceutical project is one of the pillars of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 project and is worth $320 million (about 42 billion won), with the support of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF).
In detail, the bio project aims to establish a local production base and sales network of biopharmaceuticals and some vaccines.
Hankook Korus stressed that the production facilities and items would be modeled after its antibiotic Chuncheon Bio Plant in Korea which is capable of producing biopharmaceuticals from raw materials to finished products.
The pharmaceutical project aims to produce and sell generic raw materials and finished products locally. Hankook Korus will help the Saudi government build a plant for antibiotics, which will be able to produce finished dosage forms.
"Both projects will be supported by NUSANED, a project collaboration platform operated by SABIC, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco," a Hankook Korus official said.
Meanwhile, the visit follows GL Rapha signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to promote projects in the biopharma sector during his visit to Korea last November.
While GL Rapha had signed a related MOU with the Saudi Ministry of Investment in October 2019, the company stressed that the signing and implementation of an actual agreement were delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, the company was able to restart the MOU on the occasion of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Korea.
The agreement means that GL Rapha will become a partner of the Saudi government in the biopharma sector, Hankook Korus said.
Also, GL Rapha is the only Korean biopharmaceutical company contracted directly with the Saudi government, it added.