Taiwan Optimism, Despite Govt Actions

Taiwan's alleged discrimination against overseas drugmakers has ledseveral to consider closing their local operations (Marketletter July 7), but Antonio Chow, Roche's Taiwan general manager, remains optimistic, local observers told the Marketletter.

"We will continue introducing new pharmaceuticals to the market and plan to introduce two new drugs each year in the future," he said. "I believe Taiwan is one of the most sophisticated markets in the Asia Pacific, although it is being run in a Chinese way." He said that the National Health Insurance Bureau's implementation of a "discriminatory" pricing system has resulted in locally-made generics selling at almost the same price as the original proprietary drugs. However, he added, while these bioequivalent generics are claimed to contain the same active ingredients, "they are not quality-equivalent."

Taiwanese spent NT$49 billion ($1.7 billion) on medicines in 1996, accounting for about 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product.