A Filipino- Israeli company investing in the manufacture of new coronavirus disease 2019 oral vaccines will generate annual exports of $180 million, according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) .
PEZA recently approved the project of Savepoint Biotek for the production of the vaccines in Pampanga Economic Zone. The project will generate 425 jobs.
About 70 percent of the company’s production will be exported to Asia-Pacific and Africa.
To date, PEZA has registered 26 companies into export manufacturing of medical equipment and products.
The Philippines presents potential as both a market and manufacturing hub for pharmaceuticals.
Among the top pharma companies in the country are the Filipino-owned Unilab nd Cathay Drug, and mostly global giants such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithkline, Abbot, Astellas, Wyeth, Boehringer Ingleheim, Novartis, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Schering Plough, and Merck.
The Philippines is an emerging destination for global clinical trials, which provided a significant boost for the healthcare sector, according to GlobalData, citing the US Food and Drug Administration.
The Philippines is the 3rd largest pharmaceutical market in the Asean region, behind Indonesia and Thailand. According to the Asean Pharma Report: Opportunities and Threats 2020 and Beyond, the Philippine pharmaceutical market is forecasted to gain a steady growth of 4.5 percent in the following years.
