 The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceuticals licensed for use as medications.  Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/brand medications and medical devices.  They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and ensuring safety and efficacy and marketing of drugs  The first known drugstore was opened by Arabian pharmacists in Baghdad in 754

 For the first time ever, in 2006, global spending on prescription drugs topped $643 billion  the pharmaceutical industry topped the list of the most profitable industries, with a return of 17% on revenue

 The natural purpose and driving force of the pharmaceutical industry is to increase sales of pharmaceutical drugs for ongoing diseases and to find new diseases to market existing drugs. So cure or don’t cure???????

The Saudi pharmaceutical market is one of the largest in the Middle East and constitutes 65 % of the GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE.

 The local pharmaceutical industry mainly focuses on generic drugs manufacturing.  Generic drug is a drug product that is comparable to brand/reference listed drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use. It has also been defined as a term referring to any drug marketed under its chemical name without advertising.

 Currently, Saudi Arabia tops other Arabian Gulf countries in the number of generic brand manufacturers. Nevertheless, local manufacturers import raw materials either from their licensors or various other suppliers worldwide.  The kingdom has a $1.2 billion market in medicines, more than 3,000 pharmacies and more than 4,600 registered drugs, both generic and patented.  consumption of medicines is estimated to be $52 per capita, compared to about $20 in the rest of the Arab world.

 GDP= gross domestic product

 There are approximately 200 pharmaceutical companies (mainly retailers) in Saudi Arabia registered with the Ministry of Health  The market is largely dominated by European suppliers, and over forty agents in Saudi Arabia, which import medicines from international pharmaceutical companies  Local manufacturers had supplied around 16% of the total pharmaceuticals market, while remaining 84% were imported from  other countries

 Leading domestic players/manufactures are; SPIMACO, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals Company, Jamjoom Pharmacies, Al-Jazira Pharmacies, Riyadh Pharmacies, and Saja Pharmacies  Foreign firms includes :GlaxoSmithKline (UK), Pfizer, Novartis, Astra, MSD and Janssen, etc