Veterinary Vaccine Localization Drives Saudi Arabia Ceva Pact For Local Production

Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Livestock and Fisheries Development Program Abdulrahman Alfadley oversaw a memorandum of understanding between the program and French company Ceva. The agreement sets a framework to expand veterinary vaccine manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, improve biosecurity, and support national food security objectives through industrial cooperation and technology transfer.

The cooperation plans to address the Kingdom’s poultry vaccine market, currently valued at about SAR750 million. Ceva is expected to supply around 30% of this demand, investing about SAR250 million in the first phase. With ongoing state backing for poultry projects and higher production levels, market size is projected to rise by over 10% each year, reaching about SAR1.25 billion by 2030.

The memorandum seeks to localise veterinary vaccine manufacturing so products match poultry disease strains circulating in the Kingdom. It also aims to minimise reliance on imports. Technology and technical knowledge from Ceva will be transferred to local partners, while specialised training programmes will support workers and supervisors in operating advanced facilities within Saudi Arabia.

Manufacturing sites developed under this memorandum are expected to comply with international Good Manufacturing Practices standards. The agreement includes measures to achieve high efficiency in mass production scale-up. It also sets a pathway for stable commercial operations that respond to national and local market needs, while reinforcing biosecurity measures across the livestock and poultry sectors.

A major element of the cooperation focuses on developing and updating messenger RNA vaccine technologies. Both parties will collaborate on research and development dedicated to a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus vaccine for camels. This work will cover the design, testing and refinement of specialised vaccines targeted at controlling MERS-CoV within camel populations in the region.

The memorandum also includes joint efforts to develop a rabies vaccine and related medical solutions. Ceva will support national rabies control programmes through vaccine supply, capacity-building and integrated prevention strategies. These combined actions are intended to reduce risks to animal health and public health, in line with Saudi Arabia’s wider disease control policies.

Senior officials attended the signing ceremony, highlighting institutional support for the partnership. By combining local capabilities with international expertise, the memorandum aims to strengthen veterinary vaccine manufacturing, meet growing domestic demand, and enhance the resilience of the Kingdom’s livestock and poultry industries over the coming years.

With inputs from SPA