Dr. Adel Al-Harf has served as the vice president for the drug sector at the Saudi Food and Drug Authority since February 2018. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic and tactical oversight of the drug sector’s activities, including the licensing of medicines, product evaluations, pharmacovigilance, drug availability, and the safety of cosmetics.
Al-Harf joined the authority in 2004 and was part of the team responsible for the establishment of most of the sector’s departments and regulations.
He is also currently a board member and head of the executive committee of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, a member of the steering committee of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicines, and a member of the strategic committee of the Saudi Patient Safety Center.
He believes that Saudi Arabia will become one of the top global hubs for the pharmaceutical industry because of the great support provided by the government under Vision 2030.
Previously, Al-Harf was executive director of the Vigilance and Benefit/Risk Assessment Directorate at the SFDA from November 2014 to February 2018.
Between April 2013 and November 2014, he held the position of director of the National Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety Center. In 2019, Al-Harf was nominated as the drug authority’s representative at the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use.
Al-Harf is also a member of several advisory committees, including the Saudi Health Council, the College of Pharmacy (King Saud University), the College of Pharmacy (King Abdulaziz University), the College of Pharmacy (Jouf University), the College of Science (Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University), and the College of Pharmacy (University of Tabuk).

Al-Harf received a master’s degree in pharmacology from King’s College London and his doctorate in medicine and therapeutics from the University of Glasgow. He received a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences from King Saud University.

He also completed several executive education programs at Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania, Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley, and received a certificate in leadership and management from the Chartered Management Institute.