The UAE is emerging as the new pharmaceutical hub in the world with at least a dozen Arab and other middle east countries are actively planning manufacturing facilities. The main trigger for this trend is fast growing healthcare spending and awareness amongst the people in this region. The market for healthcare products and services in the Arab region is stated to be huge and comparable to that of any developed part of the world. According to an industry estimate, the healthcare market in the region should be around 80 billion dollars now. And regular annual exhibitions like Arab Health are giving a big boost to this sector. A large part of this healthcare market is constituted by drugs and pharmaceuticals and almost 90 per cent of that is being imported by these countries. Local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is limited to a few companies in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Iran and Yemen. As the current production of pharmaceutical products from these facilities is highly inadequate, most of the requirements of medicine are being met by imports from the US and Europe. Indian pharmaceutical industry despite its reputation as a quality supplier of generics and APIs to the US and most of European nations, could not make any serious headway into the Arabian market. It is not that the quality of Indian pharmaceuticals is anyway inferior to the US and European products. That is evident from the fact that 60 to 70 per cent of India's export of Rs 15000 crore worth of drugs and pharmaceuticals go to the US and European markets. And it is the same companies like Ranbaxy, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Ajanta, etc., exporting regularly to the US and Europe, are finding difficult to get registration for their products in the UAE and other markets. With great difficulty they have a dozen and more of their products in this market through distributors. Many more companies are trying hard to get registrations with UAE health authorities. Drug registration procedures in UAE and other countries in Middle East are certainly very stringent and it is quite difficult for companies without a US FDA or European manufacturing standard to get an entry into this markets. Two Indian companies are trying a different route of getting a bunch of products manufactured through a Dubai based company and selling them through a well connected local distributor. However, not a single Indian pharmaceutical company has succeeded in setting up a manufacturing facility in UAE. A serious problem confronted by Indian pharmaceutical companies in the Middle East market is the mischievous media campaign by multinational drug companies against the Indian medicines and health services. With a string of the US and European advisors attached to the ministries of health in these countries, such media campaigns become an easy tool for them to use against Indian pharmaceutical products and healthcare services. A highly motivated report in one of the Dubai based newspapers about the quality of syringes used in Indian hospitals is one such instance. Surprisingly, neither any Indian organization nor Indian ambassador in UAE countered such a malicious and one sided report. It is extremely important for leaders of Indian community and diplomatic missions in these countries to support the domestic pharmaceutical sector against such vicious campaigns.