Taiwan will amend its National Health Insurance Drug Reimbursement Guidelines (NHIDRG) to encourage country's pharmaceutical companies to produce more medicines within the country. The announcement comes amid possible price fluctuations caused by exchange rate changes or increased costs resulting from the new US tariffs.
Taiwan’s health minister Qiu Tai-yuan said the changes are likely to be in place by end of April this year and will offer preferential pricing approvals for domestically manufactured generic and biosimilar drugs. Mr Qiu said if the current pricing does not cover production costs, pharmaceutical companies can request price adjustments under the NHIDRG.
According to official data there are a total of 11,454 valid drug licences in Taiwan, and among them, some 73% are for domestically produced drugs, while 27% are for imported drugs. Drugs made in the US account for only 2% of the imported drug licences but the top three categories of these are human blood products, anti-cancer medications and drugs for the nervous system. The US tariffs could potentially compromise Taiwan’s access to affordable US-made medical drugs that have no generic alternatives.
National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) has said a rise in pharmaceutical costs would negatively impact Taiwanese, as the National Health Insurance (NHI) does not cover many crucial drugs made in the US.
Taiwan also imports three types of medical equipment from the US that are rarely used, but nearly impossible to replace according to NHIA.
The government does not foresee drug shortages in the immediate future and is implementing measures to create a reserve of medicines in case of disruption to supply chains.