Any drug after manufacture it should undergo the approval process under the the regulatory authority of the country to market the drug. in this slides i have explained the requirements for approval and approval and approval procedure of the drug product in Saudi Arabia

1. Regulatory Requirements for
MAA and Post Approval
Requirements of Drugs in Saudi
Arabia
Submitted By:
Sridhar S
M.Pharm
Pharmaceutical Regulatory
Affairs
JSS College of Pharmacy
Submitted to:
Dr. M.P. Venkatesh
Asst. Professor
Regulatory Affairs Group
Dept. of Pharmaceutics
JSS College of Pharmacy

2. Country profile
• Capital - Riyadh
• Population – 28.83 million (2017)
• Official language – Arabic
• Area -2,149,690 Km2
• Currency – Saudi riyal
• Regulatory Authority – Saudi Food and Drug Authority
• India export to GCC countries- 119.25 USD billion.

3. Pharmaceutical market :
• The Saudi pharmaceutical market is the richest in the Gulf
region accounts around 65% of GCC market

4. SFDA Organisation (Drug)

5. GCC Countries
• Qatar -- Supreme Council Of Health
• Bahrain -- National Health Regulatory Authority
• Oman --Directorate General of Pharmaceutical Affairs
and Drug Control
• Yemen -- Supreme Board For Medicine And Medical
Appliances
• United Arab Emirates - Ministry of Health (MOH)
• Kuwait - Kuwait food and drug authority
• Saudi Arabia – Saudi food and drug authority

6. Drug Registration Procedures
• Registered by Two Procedures:
Centralised process
Decentralised process

7. Cont….
• The Saudi pharmaceutical market is one of the largest
in the Middle East and constitutes 65 percent of the
GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar,
Oman, Kuwait and the UAE.
• It is forecast to expand by 4.7 percent a year to reach
$4.7 billion by 2017
• The Saudi Food and Drug Authority [SFDA] is the main
drug regulatory body of Saudi Arabia
• The SFDA receives external technical assistance (from
WHO, World Bank and other agencies and regulatory
authorities) to support its activities.

8. Cont….
• SFDA prefers the drug dossier submission in electronic
format (eCTD). The SFDA has approved more than 6177
drugs of different strength and formulations, till May 20,
2016.
• The data requirements for each application will differ,
depending on the drug submission type.
• However, all the required data should be in accordance with
the CTD structure
• a) In case of New Chemical Entity (NCE), Biologicals and
Biosimilars ALL the CTD Modules are required.

9. Cont….
• b) In case of Generic Products:
• In preparing the dossier for generic products, it is
acknowledged that certain modules or sections of the CTD
would generally not be applicable and should be marked as
such
• Module 1: Regional Administrative Information
• This Module is required to be submitted. It should contain
documents specific to SFDA;
• e.g., application form, proposed labelling, alcohol-content
declaration

10. Cont….
• Module 2: Common Technical Document Summaries
• The following sections are required to be submitted under
Module 2:
• 2.1 Table of Contents of Module 2-5.
• 2.2 Introduction:
• This section should begin with a general introduction to the
pharmaceutical, including its pharmacologic class, mode of
action, and proposed clinical use. In general, the
introduction should not exceed one page.

11. Cont….
• 2.3 Quality Overall Summary:
• The whole section is required and should reflects the
information provided in Module 3.
• 2.4 Non- Clinical Overall Summary:
• 2.5 Clinical Overview:
• 2.5.2 “Overview of Biopharmaceutics”: The summary of the
comparative bioequivalence/bioavailability study reports
should be provided under this section
• Module 3: Quality
• The whole section is required and the information should be
presented

12. Cont….
• Module 4: Non-Clinical Study Reports
• Generally not applicable for generic products
• Module 5: Clinical Study Reports
• It is anticipated that only the following relevant sections of
Module 5 will normally be
• required.
• 5.1 Table of contents for Module 5
• 5.2 Tabular listing of all clinical studies
• 5.3 Clinical study reports

13. Cont….
• 5.4 Literature references
• The following are recommendations for the presentation
of the information in the Quality Module for different
scenarios
• For a drug product containing more than one drug
substance: one complete “3.2.S” section should be provided
for one drug substance, followed by other complete “3.2.S”
sections for each drug substance
• For a drug product with multiple strengths: one complete
“3.2.P” section should be provided with the information for
the different strengths provided within the subsections. One
complete copy of the dossier should be provided for each
strength

14. Cont….
• For multiple drug products (e.g. tablets and a parenteral
product): a separate dossier is required for each drug
product.
• Registration Rules
• The following rules/conditions if met, the submitted drug
application will be accepted:
• 1. New Drug and Biological (either registered in an SRA or
not)
• 2. Generic Drug that is equivalent to the registered
innovator in an SRA (the drug shall be registered as “New
Drug” because the API is not registered in KSA)

15. Cont….
• 3. Biosimilar drug only if it is manufactured locally
• 4. Biosimilar drug if registered in an SRA
• 5. Combination products (2 or more API):
• a. If the API's are registered in KSA as single drugs (with
the same strength, dosage form and therapeutic
indication), the application is considered Generic
• b. If one or more of the API's are not registered in KSA,
the application is considered New Drug

16. Step by step procedure:
•1. Applicant shall go to the Saudi Drug Registration
system (SDR) website (http://sdr.sfda.gov.sa/ )
•2. Login to apply (each applicant should have a user
ID and a password)
•3. Choose and complete the appropriate application
form:
•The application form can be saved partially as the
applicant may complete it in several steps.

17. • 4. Then, the applicant has to pay the submission fee
(through SADAD Payment System) in order to submit the
application form and schedule an appointment to deliver
the hard and soft copy of the product file:
Submission fees are mandatory in order to proceed to the
next step.
The applicant can reschedule 3 weeks before the
appointment. An automatic reminder will be sent 3 days
before the appointment.
A reference number will be generated, and this number
should always be used with regard to any communication
with the SFDA.

18. • 5. At the appointment, the applicant will deliver the product
file along with the samples.
• 6. The Regulatory Affairs Pharmacist will validate (Phase I)
the following:
• a. The application form
• b. The product file (hard and soft copy)
• c. The samples

20. Marketing Authorization Application (MAA)
• A. Validation (Phase II):
• 1. The product file will be validated to ensure that all
information provided are according to the requirements
and/or guidelines:
• a. The completed file will proceed to the next steps in
parallel – assessment, testing and inspection.
• b. If any information is missing or incorrect, the applicant
will be notified electronically. The applicant will be given an
opportunity to complete the file within 90 days. Otherwise,
the file will be rejected.

21. • 2. Performance target: 10 days for all drug submission types
• B. Assessment
• 1. The product file will be distributed by the product
manager to THREE groups: Quality, Safety and Efficacy.
• 2. Quality assessment will be performed by a quality group.
Once completed, a report will be forwarded to the product
manager.
• 3. Safety assessment will be performed by a safety group.
Once completed, a report will be forwarded to the product
manager.

22. • 4. Efficacy assessment will be performed by an efficacy
group. Once completed, a report will be forwarded to the
product manager
• 5. If a clarification is required, an electronic “Inquiry Form”
will be forwarded
• to the applicant through the product manager. The response
should be received
• within 90 days. Otherwise, the application will be rejected
• D. Inspection

23. • E. Pricing
• The Pricing department handles pricing requests and
ensures that all pricing requirements are met (such as the
presence of a valid, updated and authenticated Price
Certificate (Form-30) and a product sample in its final pack
form). However, if more information or clarification is
required, an electronic “Inquiry Form” will be forwarded to
the applicant through the product manager. A response
should be received within 90 days.
• F. Product Licensing

25. VARIATION
•The variation or post-marketing changes can be
classified into two categories:
•A. Minor changes:
•1. Type IA: minor variations that does not require
prior approval before implementation (“Do and
Tell” procedure) but require notification submitted
by the marketing authorization holder (MAH) within
60 days after implementation.

26. •2. Type IB: minor variations that must be notified to
the SFDA by the Marketing Authorization Holder
(MAH) before implementation, but do not require a
formal approval. However, the MAH must wait a
period of 120 days to ensure that the application is
deemed acceptable by the SFDA before
implementing the change (“Tell, Wait and Do”
procedure).

27. • B. Major variation:
• 3. Type II: major variations in which there might be a
significant impact on the Quality, Safety or Efficacy of a
medicinal product and require prior approval before
implementation.
• Variation Approval:
• 1. For type IA:
• a. The Licensing Director will approve the final report.
• b. Notify the applicant.
• c. Performance target: 5 days.

28. • 2. For type IB:
• a. The Licensing Director will approve the final report.
• b. Notify the applicant.
• c. Performance target: 5 days.
• 3. For type II:
• 1. Product manager will receive all reports from
departments and hand them to the secretary of the
“Registration Committee”:
• a. The secretary of the Registration Committee will add the
product to the agenda of the next available meeting.

29. • b. At the meeting, the Registration Committee will either
recommend approval, rejection or ask for further
information if needed.
• c. Performance target: 12 days
• 2. The meeting minutes:
• a. Will be sent to the SFDA CEO for approval.
• b. Then, the Product Licensing department will issue a
marketing authorization.
• c. Performance target: 3 days

30. • Total performance target (Type IA) = 60 days
• Total performance target (Type IB) = 120 days
• Total performance target (Type II) = 145 days
• Note: the performance target in any step will STOP if a
clarification or information is needed from the company,
and will be resumed after receiving the response.

33. REFERENCE
• https://www.sfda.gov.sa/en/drug/about/sector_departments/im
porting_clerance/Pages/Drug_Ga.aspx
• https://www.sfda.gov.sa/en/drug/eservices/Pages/default.aspx
• https://www.sfda.gov.sa/en/drug/drug_reg/Pages/default.aspx
• https://sdr.sfda.gov.sa/frmHelp.aspx
• https://www.sfda.gov.sa/ar/drug/resources/DocLib2/Regulatory_
Framework_for_Drug_Approvals_v_5%200.pdf
• https://www.sfda.gov.sa/ar/drug/resources/DocLib2/GCC-
Human-Drugs-Subv2.1.pdf

34. • Questions…………