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PH pharma industry seen to hit P216-B in 2024

By Kris Crismundo

April 19, 2022, 5:31 pm

<p><strong>HEALTH SPENDING.</strong> The country’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to grow up to PHP216 billion by 2024. Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said Tuesday (April 19, 2022) that health expenditure is on the rise, with consumer health spending growth averaging 11 percent in the last three years. <em>(File photo)</em></p>

HEALTH SPENDING. The country’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to grow up to PHP216 billion by 2024. Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said Tuesday (April 19, 2022) that health expenditure is on the rise, with consumer health spending growth averaging 11 percent in the last three years. (File photo)

MANILA – Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said the country’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to grow up to PHP216 billion by 2024, as it continues to be an attractive market for pharmaceutical firms.
 
“The Philippine health expenditure is on the rise, with consumer health expenditure growing with double-digit growth in the last three years with an average growth of 11 percent,” Rodolfo said in a statement Tuesday.
 
He said the BOI, as the country’s lead investment promotion agency, vows to support the roadmap of the Philippine Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) to strengthen the local sector and increase the country’s pharmaceutical exports.
 
Multinational companies currently share over half of pharmaceutical sales in the country at 56.5 percent.
 
Rodolfo added the country is making significant developments in herbal medicine, which is expected to support the growth of the local pharmaceutical sector.
 
With the availability of nature-based active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as lagundi and sambong, the industry is now developing herbal drugs for Covid-19 and dengue.
 
“(T)he BOI wants to home in on the research and development and supply chain development of the priority herbal plants as well as establish and maintain a cohesive policy environment for the development of the industry,” the agency said.
 
The BOI added the growth of local manufacturing of herbal drugs will also generate income and job opportunities for Filipinos.
 
Moreover, the BOI is actively promoting the Philippines as a manufacturing hub for pharmaceutical companies to produce Covid-19 medicines and vaccines here.
 
Last January, BOI approved the PHP24-million project of Lloyd Laboratories, Inc. to produce Covid-19 drug Molnupiravir.
 
Lloyd Laboratories expanded its facility in Malolos, Bulacan for this project, which enabled the company to produce one million 400-milligram capsules of Molnupiravir. (PNA)
 

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