Indian pharma giant opens Dubai facility
dubai — India’s pharmaceutical giant Wockhardt Bio opened a Dh150 million facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone to produce novel antibiotic drugs that will be sold in the local market as well as exported to Europe, the US and other markets around the world, a senior official said.
Dr Habil Khorakiwala, founder and chairman of Wockhardt Bio, said they established this facility in Dubai because of — apart from others — tax benefits. “We came here because of tax benefits, so we thought Dubai is the best possible [destination] for us. Ireland was close too but we finally chose to be here in Dubai. This facility is completely automated and robotics from beginning to end. There is no human touch there because when there is human touch, there are issues of quality challenges,” he said.
Dr Murtaza Khorakiwala, managing director of Wockhardt Bio, said it is the first facility by the company in the Middle East.
“The facility is going to manufacture novel antibiotics, produced for the first time in the world. These are in clinical developments and will be manufactured in Dubai. And we will make these available to the global markets in the US, Europe and all over the world. We came to Dubai because of tax benefit here. Plus Dubai is a liberal, progressive and forward-looking society and always wanting to be ahead of others in the region. This appealed to us and that’s why after a lot of research we decided that Dubai is the right choice for us. This will also improve competitive position for us,” he added.
He noted that resistance of antibiotics is increasingly becoming a common issue for the world as superbugs kill 700,000 people every year and this number is projected to increase to 10 million by 2050.
Dr Mahesh Patel, chief scientific officer for drug discovery research, said the world faces challenges because of molecules resistance to global anti biotics. “Today, 700,000 deaths are due to antibiotics resistance infection. If no new antibiotics are discovered, the death rate will increase to 10 million by 2050.”