Localizing biomanufacturing to secure biologics for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Developing top talent and accelerating sector growth in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Biotechnology Strategy.
Why SVAX exists
A chronic gap in local discovery, development and manufacturing capability.
The world faces a significant unmet need for biologics and biosimilars. In the region the challenge is sharper still: limited access to therapies built for global markets, and few solutions for local health challenges the global industry overlooks.
As a member of the G20, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to lead, and the National Biotechnology Strategy sets the direction: biomanufacturing and localization, with biosimilar adoption raised above 60%. SVAX exists to deliver against that pillar, by building sovereign capability across the biologics value chain and by developing the national talent that will run it.
Prof. Mazen Hassanain · Chief Executive Officer
About
We deliver innovative solutions
At SVAX we are your trusted partner in biotechnology, dedicated to transforming healthcare through the research, development and manufacture of biologics.
Vision
To position the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a global leader in biomanufacturing, achieving self-sufficiency and equitable access to life-saving biologics across the Kingdom, the GCC and OIC countries.
Mission
To localize biomanufacturing by creating a sustainable supply of life-saving biologics, strengthening national health security, and empowering national talents to lead the biotechnology sector's growth.
Values
We are committed to ethical and responsible biotech research and development. We put patients first, and we build products and therapies that are safe, effective and accessible to all.
Governance
Board of Directors
Our team
Scientists, engineers, regulatory specialists and operators building the Kingdom's biomanufacturing capability from Jeddah.
Executive office
Manufacturing
Quality
Regulatory Affairs
Business Operations
Commercial and Business Development
Finance
Human Capital
Clinical Development
What we do
Three businesses, one company
Biotech Business
Advanced research and development in biologics and biosimilars. Proprietary programs built on licensed IP from multinational partners, plus co-development across every stage of the drug lifecycle.
Manufacturing Business
Development and manufacturing services for biologics: process optimization, aseptic fill-finish and packaging, to international regulatory standard.
Advisory Business
A contract research organization supporting local and international companies entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the GCC and MENAT markets, SFDA regulatory affairs, and biomanufacturing training that builds national capability.
The value chain
From drug substance to the released dose
SVAX runs fill-finish, quality release and registration inside the Kingdom, and works with partners upstream for drug substance. The aim is a chain that closes inside the region rather than one that depends on a factory outside it.
National Biotechnology Strategy
Built for the Kingdom's biotechnology strategy
The Kingdom published its National Biotechnology Strategy in January 2024, setting the ambition to lead biotechnology across the Middle East and North Africa by 2030 and globally by 2040. One of its four pillars is biomanufacturing and localization: building the domestic capacity to produce biologics rather than import them, and raising biosimilar adoption above 60% to widen patient access and contain the cost of care. That pillar is the whole of SVAX's business.
Localizing the supply of biologics
Most of the biologics used in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are manufactured abroad, which leaves the supply of essential medicines dependent on decisions taken elsewhere. Producing them here shortens the supply chain, takes currency and logistics exposure out of the health system, keeps the industrial value inside the Kingdom, and makes pharmaceutical security something the Kingdom holds rather than something it buys.
Biosimilars as the route to access
The strategy's target of more than 60% biosimilar adoption is an access target before it is an industrial one. Every biosimilar made locally is a therapy the health system can afford to give to more patients.
Capability, not only capacity
A plant is the visible part. The transferable part is the people: process development, analytical methods, quality systems and a regulatory track record live in trained scientists, engineers and operators, not in equipment. SVAX develops them through its Academy and alongside its partners, and that is what lets the next molecule reach patients faster than the last.
The strategy targets approximately 11,000 quality jobs by 2030 and about 55,000 by 2040, and a three per cent contribution to non-oil GDP with a cumulative impact reaching SAR 130 billion by 2040.
Partners
The network behind the capability
Industry, academia and healthcare, in the Kingdom and internationally.
Jeddah · Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation
A sterile fill-finish facility, built to international GMP
Isolator-based aseptic filling, automated inspection and grade-controlled cleanrooms, designed and equipped to international GMP standards.
Infrastructure
Our facility in Jeddah
SVAX’s aseptic fill-finish facility in Jeddah is in Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation, designed and equipped to international GMP standards.
Aseptic Fill & Finish
A contract manufacturing facility for biologics, built for sterile drug product across a range of formats and serving both the SVAX portfolio and external manufacturing partners.
What the site is built for
- Isolator-based aseptic filling
- Automated visual inspection
- Grade-controlled cleanrooms
- In-house quality control and batch release
- Secondary packaging and serialization
- Built to international GMP
Facility
Jeddah, as it stands today
Photographed during installation. Every image below is the SVAX facility, not a rendering.
Where Healthy Begins
Build sovereign biomanufacturing capability with us
Whether you are entering the Saudi market, looking for a manufacturing partner, or exploring co-development, we would like to hear from you.