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The growth of the pharmaceutical sector in the Middle East has created a lucrative niche for Pharma World Holdings, which has been established to service the logistical needs of a market worth US$3 billion per annum.

The logistics industry has increased its focus on niche services over the past year, scrambling to find underserved markets that could benefit from outsourcing their supply chain operations to a third party.

In such a rapidly developing market, first mover advantage has obvious benefits, with forward thinking companies such as Agility, Kuehne & Nagel and Freight Systems already marking their territory in the defence, hospitality and event sectors respectively.

Until now, however, the pharmaceutical sector has been relatively untouched, despite showcasing the type of characteristics that symbolise a lucrative market in the making.

For instance, the sector has experienced steady growth throughout the Middle East over the past decade, with customer demand receiving a friendly push from the regional population boom.

In addition, pharmaceutical manufacturers are displaying an increased eagerness to hand over their supply chain operations to logistics service providers, covering everything from warehousing and distribution to value-added services
such as labelling and packaging.

Although these cries for logistical support have arguably fallen on deaf ears until now, the region's first pharmaceutical logistics provider has recently been established to kickstart a swift turnaround in the market.

Pharma World Holdings has been launched with a specialist portfolio of services that covers the entire supply chain for companies operating in the regional pharmaceutical industry, a market valued at approximately US$3 billion per annum.

"We are attempting to centralise the logistics process for companies operating within the pharmaceutical industry," explains Maher Kheder, business development group director, Pharma World Holdings.

Our business model has been designed to provide an integrated approach that better links principals with distributors, removing layers or inefficiency and improving quality service and costs.

Despite being a new player in the Middle East logistics industry, the firm arrives on the scene with an enviable track record in the pharmaceutical trade, being a joint venture between Ithmar Capital and Banaja International Group.

Whilst Ithmar Capital is a UAE-based regional private equity specialist, Banaja International Group is one of the leading Saudi Arabia distributors in the healthcare market, with a heritage of 60 years in representing various multinational pharmaceutical companies throughout the region.

"Our biggest strength is the ability to take the local storage, distribution and general administration issues off the manufacturers' hands. We effectively control the entire process, from inventory management, warehousing and distribution, packaging, order fulfilment and same day shipment," says
Kheder.

We can either offer these services as a total package or customise the solution to suit each customer's specific requirements. Either way, the manufacturer will receive a world class service that allows them to concentrate on their own product development, sales and marketing.

Pharma World Holdings has already received a favourable response from the market, according to Kheder, and the company is currently negotiating with a number of leading European and North American manufacturers, including industry heavyweights such as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

It also plans to target local manufacturers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a secondary market in the future.

"We are primarily marketing our services to the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in Europe and North America.

The response has been overwhelming positive because the market has been looking for this type of service for a long time now," he says.

"The concept of outsourcing logistics operations is well appreciated and accepted by European and American pharmaceutical manufacturers, who understand the benefits. Its been tried and tested in those markets and we've delivering the same thing to the Middle East.

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