THE government has promised its support to make the pharmaceutical industry more competitive while making its supply chain more resilient to disruptions like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said during the first general membership meeting of the Philippine Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) on April 8 that “by 2024, it is forecasted that the total pharmaceutical market will be valued at $4.17 billion. Philippine health expenditure is on the rise, with consumer health expenditure posting double-digit growth in the last three years with an average of 11%.”
“The Philippine pharmaceutical market is dominated by a few key players in almost the entire value chain — from production to distribution and retail. While the Philippine pharmaceutical industry is dominated by multi-national companies (which) account for more than half the total value of sales (56.5%) — local companies are now putting up strong competition, specifically in the sale of generic drugs,” he added.
Mr. Rodolfo pushed for the development of herbal medicine production.
“The growth of local production of herbal medicines will spur (their) development… as a robustly expanding wholesale and retail sector for herbal medicines will generate income and employment opportunities,” Mr. Rodolfo said.
The Board of Investments (BoI), of which Mr. Rodolfo is the Managing Head, is encouraging investment in research and development and supply chain development for herbal products.
“The Philippines is making significant progress in developing nature-based products. Herbal drugs for COVID-19 and dengue are being developed by the industry, while active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in herbal drug products such as lagundi and sambong, are already being produced locally,” the BoI said.
Recently, the BoI approved the registration of Lloyd Laboratories, Inc. for a project worth P24 million as a domesic producer of Molnupiravir, an oral drug for COVID-19 patients. The production facility is located in Malolos, Bulacan and has an annual capacity of 1 million 400-milligram capsules of Molnupiravir. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
