ASIA PHARMACEUTICAL UPDATE
Asian Movement – September 2019
A
Revamping Asia’s Healthcare
Regulations to attract FDI
mid global rising costs in
healthcare the trend in
adopting universal health
care has made Asian govern-
ments play close attention to ways
they can lower costs. Issues that
push costs up are wide-ranging
from regulatory requirements to
the demographics of each coun-
try, the financial strength and ar-
rangements within private and
public health systems, ongoing
drive for operational excellence,
and not least, insufficient localized
innovation. As it is impossible to
sustain rapidly rising costs so
governments have to seek effec-
tive, efficient, and equitable solu-
tions by examining how the sector
is fragmented, how to shift practi-
tioners’ objectives from resolving
individual cases to promoting
overall health, and to provide
value-based care rather than fo-
cusing on volume.
Each country is upgrading their
healthcare systems to attract life
science multinational corpora-
tions (MNCs) that will introduce
and increase the number and
quality of localized healthcare in-
novations to lower their overall
costs. Enormous markets like
China and India will always attract
investment but these MNCs have
to develop the right strategy by
studying the markets and regula-
tory systems well in order to suc-
ceed. Smaller countries need to
reform and install policies that
attract these companies.
compass a variety of issues in this
region. For example, China typi-
cally takes at least two years for
drugs and medical devices to be
approved for nationwide sale, and
is looking to reform this process.
This high level of caution has not
been all bad in light of Indonesia
and the Philippines that are bat-
tling the presence of counterfeit
drugs. India has to work on push-
ing pharmaceutical companies to
ensure drug safety through tough-
er pharmacovigilance programs.
Australia and South Korea are
improving patients’ trust in their
doctors through mandatory phy-
sician payment disclosures and
high penalties. To encourage the
presence of foreign knowledge,
Vietnam no longer caps foreign
investments in the pharmaceutical
companies.
WHY MNCS?
MNCs are not only a part of eco-
nomic development, but they can
contribute to domestic innova-
tion and offer widely applicable
technological solutions to health-
care problems. Chee Hew, senior
principal for Asia Pacific at
Clearstate, a subsidiary of The
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU),
explained that these break-
throughs will drive smart health-
care to improve patient results
while reducing delivery costs
means that it will motivate gov-
ernments to quickly incorporate
digital health systems for a more
interactive way of managing
healthcare by creating new eco-
systems. In Asian markets, digital
health is still used to provide
basic standards of care by mak-
ing services more affordable and
accessible to rural patients as
well as in places with a shortage
of doctors capable of working on
complex cases. The arrival of
MNCs can accelerate the estab-
lishment of digital health in each
country, at strategic locations
and be key players in developing
important cities into new global
digital hubs.
REGULATORY HURDLES
Pharmaceutical regulations en-
DIGITALIZATION INNOVA-
TIONS
• Taiwan aims to be a major re-
gional biomedical market.
• South Korean government and
industry players collaborate to
make the country a global med-
ical and biotech hub focusing
on biosimilars, stem cell thera-
pies, and 3D printed medical
devices.
• China is developing a national
digital platform for data sharing,
digital medical identification
and signatures.
• India and the Philippines have
pharmaceutical companies
creating mobile applications
aimed at patients and stake-
holders.
Source: “Governments rush to revamp regulations as costs rise”, staff reporter, 16 Aug 2018, Healthcare Asia
SEPTEMBER 2019
PharMed & HealthCare 5