Philippines pharma market to reach $8 bn by 2020

The Philippines’ pharmaceutical market value is expected to increase from $4.3 billion in 2013 to $8 billion by 2020, at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.4%, thanks to the country’s high medicine prices, says research and consulting firm GlobalData. According to a GlobalData report, the Philippines have the third largest pharma market among the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), just after Indonesia and Thailand.
 
Joshua Owide, GlobalData’s Director of Healthcare Industry Dynamics, said, “Although an increasing disease burden, coupled with prevailing high pharmaceutical prices, are providing the necessary investment incentives for the healthcare market in the Philippines, limited access to healthcare facilities and governmental cuts could yet impede further growth in the future.”
 
Furthermore, public health insurance provider Philippine Health Insurance Corporation does not cover the country’s entire population, resulting in the majority of people being unable to afford medicines.
 
Owide added, “The government has taken a number of measures to control the high drug prices to very little effect, thanks to the large amount of imported therapies and the demand for costly branded drugs.”
 
Additionally, high spending to overcome basic economic concerns, such as poverty, dependence on imports and high external debt, have left the Philippines’ government with insufficient funds to finance the development of healthcare infrastructure, according to GlobalData.