The Philippine pharmaceutical industry is the fastest growing and is the third biggest in Asean.
It, however, relies heavily on imports.
Corazon Dichosa, executive director of the Board of Investments (BOI) in a statement said the local market has largely been served by imports, primarily from the United States, India, China, and Germany, which exposes the country to global supply chain vulnerabilities, as highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, the Philippine pharmaceutical market generated total revenues of over $2.1 billion driven by population growth and an expanding middle class with greater health awareness.
In the same year, total imports were even higher than local, valued at $2.35 billion. In 2021, imports peaked at $2.7 billion due to the pandemic.
The Integrated Roadmap of the Philippine Pharmaceutical Industry aims to substantially increase the capacity of local manufacturers to produce 60 percent of the country’s registered medicines and become a major producer of essential pharmaceutical products and services.
The Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) Program led by the BOI and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently unveiled the findings of its assessment on the pharmaceutical industry.
The PQM+ noted the need to prioritize production of anti-tuberculosis (TB) medicines.
Despite the sizeable domestic market for TB medicines, there is limited local manufacturing of TB products, according to Mehmood Anwar of the PQM+ team.
Sarah Medina Manga, representing the Department of Health, said TB and human immunodeficiency virus or IV medications have been identified as critical priorities for local manufacturing.
“We believe that with the right support, the pharmaceutical industry of the Philippines will flourish,” said Anwar, adding the establishment of a testing laboratory is crucial for priority essential medicines in the public and private sectors.
Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, deputy director of USAID Office of Health, said that the COVID pandemic posed big challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. “
Consistency and reliability in the healthcare system partnership among the government, academia, and industry are key to developing a cutting-edge pharmaceutical industry,” said Olivares
The PQM+ Program is covered by the six-year (2019–2025) USAID-funded cooperative agreement to sustainably strengthen medical product quality assurance (QA) systems in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). PQM+ conducted landscape analyses of 17 eligible LMICs across Asia, among which is the Philippines, to assess their readiness to expand the local production of priority essential health products.
