Salalah Free Zone ... to host an international pharmaceuticals complex.

Oman’s Salalah Free Zone (SFZ) and Flex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company, have recently signed an agreement to set up an international complex for pharmaceutical industries at a cost of $365 million, said a report.

The complex will produce more than 100 compound drugs, reported the Times of Oman.

Jassim Al Misnad, chairman of Flex Pharmaceuticals, said that the establishment of this international pharmaceutical complex comes in a bid to benefit from the sultanate’s strategic location as a gateway to the Gulf region, its proximity to North African emerging markets and the forecast growth in demand for vaccines in the Gulf and East Africa region.

The pharmaceutical complex will be supported by a research system, advanced labs and training centres. The project will be set up in three phases starting 2018 and will be completed in 2021.

Al Misnad added that the company is now poised to launch the project and the factory construction works will start in the coming months.

Ali bin Mohammed Tabuk, Deputy CEO for corporate affairs in Salalah Free Zone, said that the pharmaceutical industries sector is one of the sectors targeted in the free zone plan.  He pointed out that 110,000 sq m in the Adhan area has been allocated for Flex Pharmaceutical complex. He affirmed that SFZ seeks to attract investors as partners to meet the needs of the development process, avail job opportunities for Omanis, provide business opportunities for national companies, and ensure optimum use of the national resources. SFZ is currently working on a new set of foreign investments that will be unveiled when formal procedures are completed.