Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te recently presided over the seventh meeting of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee. In his opening statement, the president said that the government will promote a four-year national pharmaceutical resilience preparedness programme. He said that it will allocate a budget of NT$24 billion, and the programme will focus on three areas: domestic production for domestic use, smart allocation, and international partnerships to comprehensively build a line of defense for Taiwan's pharmaceutical supply, from source production to clinical use.
President Lai said that the government will focus on three core strategies: self-sufficiency and strengthening local supply resilience, smart technology and improved monitoring and dispatching, and boosting industrial momentum and driving a trillion-NT-dollar economy.
"Taiwan is heavily reliant on imports for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and some items are even subject to foreign hostile forces . In addition, considerations of major international pharmaceutical firms such as transportation, industry strategy, and market scale present significant challenges to the stability of Taiwan's pharmaceutical supply. I have therefore instructed the Executive Yuan to invite the MOHW and other relevant ministries and agencies to jointly plan a four-year national pharmaceutical resilience preparedness programme", said the President.
"We will promote the domestic production of at least 50 key pharmaceuticals. Through policy subsidies, market guidance, and National Health Insurance reimbursement incentives, we will drive the domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and self-reliance in biopharmaceuticals. will establish a national-level Pharmaceutical Intelligent Logistics and Storage Center (PILLS Center), which will introduce a smart monitoring system to provide precise early warnings on the supply and demand of medications, and improve both horizontal and vertical dispatching mechanisms", he added.
