Bahrain's National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) said that it has licensed the medical firm Gulf Biotech Company (GBC) to become the first facility in the kingdom to manufacture injectable drugs.

The move also makes the company the second facility to manufacture drugs in the Kingdom, reported Bahrain News Agency (BNA).

The factory has thus obtained the rights to produce the initial batches of injectable drugs after presenting studies of the produced products and ensuring successful stability analyses for them.

The injectable drugs will also be subjected to final inspection to  be granted a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificate to start the production and marketing of sterile and injectable formulations.

“The factory has been licensed after fulfilling conditions related to security, safety and quality in accordance with international standards”, said NHRA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mariam Al Jalahma.

She stressed Bahrain’s commitment to international standards related to the pharmaceutical industry, adding that all projects would be subjected to the highest requirements of security, safety and quality which are mandatory in this important field.

The licensed plant will manufacture a variety of injectable human healthcare formulations such as vials, ampoules and prefilled syringes using the highest and best German technology from BOSCH. Gulf Biotech Company is headquartered in the Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP) in the Hidd Industrial Zone, consisting of three floors covering approximately 4,500 square metres.

Dr Riyadh Al Ashban, CEO of  GBC, said that the company will be the first of its kind in the Middle East in the production of injectable drugs,  using production lines with very high technology produced by the German company Bosch (Isolator system).