REFINING PHARMA

Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, has helped build his family business into a global enterprise over the last 41 years. With a market cap of over $6.2 billion, the Jordanian company is today competing with international heavyweights.

- JASON LASRADO

While the last two years have seen a number of international pharma companies, such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca, become household names thanks to vaccine rollouts, the Middle East's biggest pharmaceutical company has flown largely under the radar.

Yet Hikma, which was founded in Jordan, is a formidable global player. “We actually have 17% market share in the U.S., in the hospitals," says Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals. “That means one out of every six products that's used in the hospitals in the states is a Hikma product."

Hikma has made its mark developing, manufacturing, and marketing branded and non-branded generic medicines across the Middle East, Europe, the U.S., and Asia Pacific. Established in 1978, today the FTSE 100 company has a market cap of over $6.2 billion, 31 manufacturing plants, and seven R&D centers worldwide. Its share price has increased over seven times since it went public in 2005. In 2021, Hikma recorded revenues of $2.6 billion-9% higher than 2020. And while 2021 profits were down 2% compared to 2020 and are still 13.6% lower than pre-pandemic levels, in February 2022, the company announced that it would be executing a share buyback program of up to $300 million during 2022, and in March Fitch reaffirmed its BBB- rating.

The drug-maker manufactures or sells over 670 products globally, with the U.S. being its biggest market, contributing 60% to total revenues, followed by MENA, with Saudi and Egypt being the biggest markets in the region. Injectables are by far the company's biggest source of revenue, generating $1.1 billion in 2021, compared to $820 million from non-injectables and $669 million from its branded drug business.