Malaysia. Pharmaceutical market outlook 2016

The Malaysian pharmaceutical market is projected that the market to grow at a healthy CAGR in the forecast period. However, it will remain as the fifth smallest pharmaceutical market in the Asia Pacific region in size terms by 2016.

The market is small and relies heavily on the import of medicaments. There are around 250 Malaysian  pharmaceutical manufacturers licensed by the Drug Control Authority, and over two-thirds of these are traditional medicine manufacturers. There is little multinational manufacturing activity in the country due to strict regulations, although these may be relaxed in the future.

Ranbaxy and GSK are the only examples of large global multinational companies that have manufacturing operations in the country. Malaysia is heavily dependent on the imports of retail medicaments, which represent over three quarters of total imports. As most pharmaceutical manufacturing is for local consumption, the balance of pharmaceutical trade will remain considerably negative, and the deficit is likely to increase in the forecast period.

Source: TECTURA