Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8c2b0d/taiwan_pharmaceuti) has announced the addition of the "Taiwan Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q4 2009" report to their offering.
The Taiwan Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Taiwan's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
The overall Taiwanese pharmaceutical and healthcare market will experience an unspectacular, yet steady, growth over the forecast period. Between 2009 and 2013, the report forecasts that the drug market will grow from a value of US$3.63bn to reach US$4.55bn, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9%. Value and volume growth will be driven by demographic changes, as well as improved regulatory and pricing conditions that will attract multinationals' interest. Indeed, the analyst has recently upgraded Taiwan's score for 'Approvals process' on our Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Business Environment Ratings from seven to eight. This makes the country marginally more attractive to multinational drugmakers looking to launch innovative medicines. The ratings upgrade follows the formation of the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), which is expected to approve pharmaceuticals and medical devices more swiftly. Taiwan is now in 6th place in our Business Environment Rankings for the Asia Pacific Region.
However, market growth is also being constrained by the aggressive cost-containment measures implemented by the government. In July 2009, drug suppliers in Taiwan protested against Bureau of National Insurance (BNHI) plans to reduce the prices of price of domestically-manufactured drugs on the National Health Insurance (NHI) system by 28%. In addition, the BNHI is also looking to reduce the prices of imported drugs by 25% as it battles to reduce drug expenditure. However, representatives from the main pharmaceutical organisations claim the austerities will cost the industry TWD20bn (US$610mn) and will force them to withdraw 500 products from the NHI.