French biopharmacy company Ipsen targets Middle East growth with new Dubai base

Healthcare City office will kick-start operations and serve demand in fields such as oncology and neuroscience

Dubai Healthcare City, where French biopharmacy company Ipsen has opened its Middle East and Africa headquarters. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

French biopharmacy company Ipsen opened an office at Dubai Healthcare City to serve as its new Middle East and Africa base.

The company said its office at the Al Jalila Foundation building will allow it to kick-start direct operations and bring treatments to serve demand in the fields of oncology, rare diseases and neuroscience.

"As a company with over 90 years of heritage and a global presence in advancing R&D programmes, we have continuously focused on creating exceptional value for the local communities we serve," said Matthieu Savarzeix, vice president of Middle East, Africa and Maghreb for Ipsen.

"We are dedicated to improving patients’ lives and health outcomes, and consistently focus on introducing innovative treatments and breakthrough medicines that help enhance the quality of life.”

Ipsen was founded in 1929 and has grown into a group with net sales of more than €2.5 billion ($2.95bn) and about 5,700 employees. The company sells 20 different medicines and has a direct presence in more than 30 countries, including research facilities in France, the UK, the US, and China.

It spends more than 15 per cent of its net sales on research and has made "significant strides in building a rare disease franchise for the next decade", the company said in a statement.

The pharmaceutical sector is one of 11 key markets identified by the UAE government as a target for development under the Operation 300bn strategy announced this year, which seeks to increase the industrial sector's contribution to GDP to Dh300bn, from Dh133bn currently.

"Ipsen’s commitment to investing in the UAE and the region, and its decision to open its regional headquarters here is a welcome step that further underlines our nation’s rich legacy of facilitating the regional expansion of multinational firms," said Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Health and Prevention.