An Executive Country Review: South East Asia An ... - EC Reviews

The new pharmaceutical law in Thailand is
expected to drive many smaller retailers
out of business and to rationalize the way
drugs are sold in the country.
ical consultation, prescription, and medicine
for a mere 30 Thai baht ($0.80). The
policy, besides severely straining public
health and hospitals budgets, also increased
the market size, albeit mainly benefiting
cheap prescription drugs.
As a dispensary market, hospitals are
central in the Thai system and account for
over 65% of drug sales, followed by health
centers, where patients can consult general
practitioners and specialists and be
prescribed drugs at the unit level. These
centers account for 5% of pharmaceutical
sales. Private pharmacies sell the remaining
30%. It is worth noting that most
drugs are freely available; even many antibiotics
can be purchased without a
prescription.
Public hospitals (which account for
80% of the total hospital drug sales) purchase
drugs by public tenders, where the
main criterion is product price. Medicine
purchased in these tenders must meet criteria
established by the National Essential
Drug List, established in 1999 by Thailand’s
Food and Drug Administration.
A new pharmaceutical law is in the
works and should further change the
shape of the Thai health sector. The law
would require a qualified pharmacist in
drug retail outlets and would broaden requirements
for prescriptions. The new
rules are expected to drive many smaller
retailers out of business and rationalize the
way drugs are sold in the country. In the
meantime, the plan by Thai authorities to
turn the country into a regional health
tourism center should further strengthen
sales of higher-value and life-style drugs in
the country.
Malaysia: reforms at work
The Malaysian social security system has
been evolving and adapting to new realities:
The membership base includes
540,000 employers and over 10 million
employees, with contributions of well over
$300 million per year. The system is still
evolving away from a collection of employer
liability schemes, provident funds,
and social insurance. Until the beginning
of this decade, the scope of the coverage
was limited to the formal sector and that
too limited by wage ceilings. A large proportion
of the economically active population—the
self-employed farmers and fishermen—was
excluded from the coverage.
Protection for senior citizens was also
found to be inadequate.
A wide array of reforms have therefore
been discussed and their implementation
is on the way: designing a social security
scheme for the self-employed and projections
for a social insurance-based retirement
pension scheme are in the works.
Legislators are also considering expanding
the social security system to include pregnant
women and extending coverage for
illness.
The Philippines: reforming
the retailer’s paradise
The Philippine pharma market is something
of an anomaly: while the country
lags on social service and reform, retail
drug prices are amongst the highest in the
region. For example, GlaxoSmithKline’s
Ventolin sells for 331.50 Philippines Pesos
(PhP)—or about $6.44—in the country;
the same inhaler sells for $2.40 in India
and $1.21 in Pakistan. A tablet of Novartis’s
Voltaren sells for PhP 18 ($0.35) in
The Philippines, against $0.02 PhP in
India and $0.07 in Pakistan. Therefore, the
74 Pharmaceutical Technology SEPTEMBER 2006 www.pharmtech.com