Julphar plans Dhs1.23bn investment for expansion

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Julphar, which is UAE's biggest pharmaceutical firm, will set up seven new state- of- the- art manufacturing plants in Ras Al Khaimah to boost production and will also venture abroad to open manufacturing facilities in seven foreign countries, Abdul Razzaq Yousef, Chief Executive Officer of Julphar, said at a press conference.

He revealed that the company was also planning to open a chain of retail pharmacy outlets across the MENA region. 'We will invest around Dhs360m to open a chain of pharmacies and distribution networks across the MENA region in the next three years,' Abdul Razzaq Yousef said and added that as many as 2000 pharmacies will be opened across the region.

Outlining the strategic plan for the company, Abdul Razzaq said, 'Julphar is currently implementing a strategic plan which seeks to strengthen its pioneering and distinctive role in the regional pharmaceutical industry and to consolidate our position as a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer worldwide'. He said that the aim was to increase company's sales from the current Dhs700m to Dhs2.25bn by 2010.

Abdul Razzaq said that the seven new factories to be set up in RAK would entail a total investment of Dhs800m and would greatly enhance the company's product portfolio. It would also mark the company's foray into producing human insulin biotechnologically.

'Julphar will join the select league of global players by setting up a plant to produce human insulin crystals. The plant- Julphar-11 will cost Dhs260m and will have a capacity to produce 1500 kg of human insulin crystals annually, which would translate to approximately 37 million vials,' he said and added that the investment was particularly important as UAE had a high prevalence rate of diabetes, with around 20 percent of the population affected by the disease.

The demand for human insulin in the MENA region stood at approximately 102 million vials and the company hopes to meet at least one- third of the demand. Julphar will also set up another factory to fill insulin crystals into vials, cartridges and ampoules at a cost of Dhs100m.

The other proposed factories would include Julphar- 8 and Julphar- 9, to produce injectable penicillin and cephalosporin, and would be opened in April 2008. The plant Julphar -10 is designed to produce semi- solid products and will commence production by October 2008. It would have an annual capacity to produce 100 million units of creams and oilments and 50 million units of suppositories. The other new plants would include one for herbal extraction and a multi- purpose chemical plant to produce raw materials.

On the company's overseas ventures, Abdul Razzaq Yousef said that Julphar would invest Dhs75m overseas to set up facilities in Sudan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Lebanon, India, Iran and Yemen.

'We will be making only a 10 percent of the total investment in these projects and the local partners would contribute the remaining 90 percent. The idea is to enable the local partners to make use of Julphar's expertise and capabilities in pharmaceutical manufacturing while seeking to increase our overseas capacities,' he said.