The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), hosted the 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines today at the authority’s headquarters in Riyadh.

This meeting comes in implementation of Resolution No. (11) of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health in its (56th) regular session for 2022, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomed at that time to host the aforementioned meeting, which is the first of its kind at the Arab level.

The objective of the meeting was to enhance Arab integration in the field of medicines control and legislation and to promote the exchange of expertise and best practices among Arab medicines control bodies and authorities.

Several topics were discussed at the meeting, including the registration procedures for pharmaceutical preparations, monitoring procedures for their safety, efficacy, and quality after marketing, and the role of medicines control laboratories in Arab countries.

His Excellency Dr. Hisham bin Saad Aljadhey, CEO of the SFDA, emphasized that coordination and alignment with legal and regulatory requirements for medicines are key to facilitating the registration and availability of pharmaceutical products and lowering their cost, which in turn promotes access to these products for patients.

During the Kingdom's presidency of the meeting, H.E. Dr. Aljadhey highlighted the importance of Arab integration in the field of medicines and encouraged Arab countries to hold such meetings regularly at the level of Arab bodies and authorities concerned with medicines control and registration, as well as specialized workshops to promote communication and coordination from the supervisory side.

It is noteworthy that the Technical Committee for Arab Medicines held a meeting on the sidelines of this event to monitor the implementation of Resolution No. (17) issued by the regular session (58) of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health in March 2023.

Representatives from the League of Arab States, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Tunisia, the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Republic of Djibouti, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republic of Iraq, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Palestine, the State of Qatar, the United Republic of Comoros, the State of Kuwait, the Lebanese Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Republic of Yemen participated in the meeting.