Omani firm begins work on $155m vaccine facility

Muscat-based Opal Bio Pharma Company has started work on Oman’s first life-saving medicines and vaccine factory.

The OMR60 million ($155.84 million) facility will cover 37,000 sq m at Khazaen Economic City and will be completed in two years. Details of the manufacturing capacity were not disclosed.

Chairman Saad Moosa Al Junaibi said that the factory will place Oman on the global vaccines production map and provide an opportunity to export medical drugs to other countries.

“It will serve as a hub for pharmaceutical research and development,” he said, adding the plant will cut down dependence on the imports of medical drugs, notably during health crises and disasters.

In a statement, the health ministry said that Oman aims to secure a central position in the global market for vital and complex medicine production by establishing a vaccine industry.

Salim Al Dhahli, CEO of Khazaen Economic City, said that the medicines and vaccines factory is just the beginning of pharmaceutical projects in the Khazaen Pharmaceutical City.

“This project will serve local and foreign markets and is part of a larger plan that includes four projects within the city,” he stated.

Earlier this month Lifera (owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund) and French pharma majors Sanofi and Arabio (majority owned by Riyadh-based Tamer Group) signed an agreement to set up manufacturing facilities in the kingdom to produce vaccines for Saudi citizens.