Media Release

MAY 2013

 9th International Conference for Biopharmaceuticals and Supply Chain Management

In collaboration with Saudi Pharmaceutical Society, Roche Saudi organized an international meeting on Biopharmaceutical technology and supply chain management under the patronage of deputy minister of health Dr. Salah Almazroa and Dr. Tawfik Khoja. The meeting was attended by representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Oman.

The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the definition of Biosimilars, what is needed to have a biosimilar in the market and different regulations developed worldwide for Biosimilars.

Another aspect within the conference was a session highlighting the production process of original biological products and how important is the know how to produce them and that Biosimilars are similar but never identical or the same.

Among the speakers were prof. Ibrahim Alsarra , professor of Biopharmaceutical technology in Saudi Arabia, also Prof. Fernando de Moro from Spain, and Dr. Ali Alhumidan from Saudi FDA responsible for reviewing Biosimilars’ file submissions, as well as Prof. Abdullah Molokhia, professor of Pharmaceutics in Egypt.

A workshop was organized after the meeting for stakeholders involved in the process of assessing Biosimilars to practice different approaches when dealing with Biosimilars and also defining proper pathways to have Biosimilars legitimately in the markets to make sure that they are effective and safe as well.