His Excellency the CEO of SFDA Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey expressed his hope that the OIC Member States cooperate jointly in the field of drugs and vaccines.

This came during the speech of Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey during the opening of the first meeting of Heads of National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRA) in the OIC Member States, held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, under the title "enhanceing cooperation between the National Medicines Regulatory Authorities in the OIC towards self-reliance on drugs and vaccines ", in the presence of the Indonesian Minister of Health.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was elected as Vice-Chair of the meeting.

Dr. Aljadhey said "In order to obtain safe, quality and effective drugs or vaccines in compliance with international standards, a highly efficient regulatory and legislative system must be developed to conduct extensive scientific assessment of the products submitted for registration. This system will promote and protect public health through the provision of drugs, including required quality, safety and efficacy vaccines, in addition to the proper manufacturing, storing and distributing of drugs, the detection of illegal manufacturing and trade, imposition of appropriate penalties, provide necessary information to health care providers and patients to enable them to use drugs properly, analyze data related to the use of drugs after the marketing phase such as side effects and quality of preparations, in addition to ensuring that regulations and legislation do not impede access to drugs through additional unjustified practices".

Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey pointed out that it is the duty of Member States to work together to support the establishment of a network between National Regulatory Authorities in the Islamic Countries in order to enhance the mechanisms of cooperation and coordination in the regulation of drugs and vaccines in the Islamic world, stressing that the National Regulatory Authorities in the OIC Member States should follow up on their commitment to enhance cooperation and support self-reliance on drugs and vaccines

Dr. Aljadhey expressed his optimism about this gathering. "I hope to lay the foundation for a strong cooperation between the OIC Member States, to enhance cooperation towards self-reliance in terms of drugs and vaccines between our countries and people." His Excellency said.

On the first day of the meeting, three working sessions were held. The first one discussed drug regulation in OIC Member States.

Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey chaired the second session, which discussed the importance of National Medicines Regulatory Authorities role in ensuring access to safe, effective and quality of drugs.