THE country’s pharmaceutical sector is expected to grow into a P198.9-billion industry by 2022, up from its current value of P162.3 billion, BMI Research has forecasted.
The unit of Fitch Group reported that its optimism is founded on the country’s growing and ageing population, improving access to health care, and rise in chronic diseases due to changing lifestyles and urbanization.
The “better business climate” also encourages multinational pharmaceutical companies to operate in the Philippines, BMI Research added. Those already in the country include Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, and Roche.
In addition, the Philippines is still the fourth largest pharmaceutical market in the ASEAN region, next to Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, the think tank said.
But counterfeit medicines in the local market remain a key risk, BMI Research said, with the high local demand for low-value medications driving the operation of fake drug makers and distributors.
“We believe counterfeit drug makers and suppliers will continue to distribute and manufacture medicines in the country as long as low-value medications are in demand, as affordable yet authentic medicines are hard to find in the Philippines,” it said.
One in 10 medical products in low- and middle-income countries like the Philippines is substandard or fake, data from the World Health Organization showed.
The Food and Drug Administration has seized some P5.9 million worth of fake medicines, mostly from China, India and Pakistan. In January 2017 alone, the FDA confiscated P3 million in fake over-the-counter and anti-impotence drugs in a Manila hospital, BMI Research said.
But the think tank acknowledged that the Rodrigo Duterte administration’s tough stance against importers and producers of fake medicines, as well as increasing consumer awareness are key factors supporting the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. (PNA)
