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We continue to view Taiwan as a challenging market for multinationals, mostly on account of the difficult pricing and reimbursement environment, which is due to undergo further changes. Specifically, as part of the Second Generation National Health Insurance (NHI) programme, which becomes effective in 2013, a new reimbursement system is expected to be rolled out in Taiwan. The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham), in its latest White Paper published in 2012, wrote that it hoped that the new system - known as the Drug Reimbursement Item and Payment Scheme (DRIPS) - will not become so complicated as to cause delays in patient access to innovative new drugs.
Headline Expenditure Projections
Pharmaceuticals: TWD135.10bn (US$4.59bn) in 2011 to TWD140.44bn (US$4.71bn) in 2012; +4.2% in local currency terms and +2.6% in US dollar terms. US dollar f orecast back in the positive territory, unlike in Q412, on account of exchange rate fluctuations.
Healthcare: TWD953.29bn (US$32.42bn) in 2011 to TWD1,018bn (US$34.15bn) in 2012; +6.5% in local currency terms and +5.3% in US dollar terms. Local currency f orecast slightly up since Q412 , on account of macroeconomic factors.
Medical devices: TWD52.63bn (US$1.79bn) in 2011 to TWD55.09bn (US$1.85bn) in 2012; +4.7% in local currency terms and +4.3% in US dollar terms. Local currency f orecast slightly up since Q412 , on account of macroeconomic factors.
Competitive Landscape
The competitive landscape section provides comparative company analyses and rankings by US$ sales and % share of total sales - for the total pharmaceutical sector, as well as the OTC, generics, and distribution sub-sectors.