The disrupted supply chain and the surge of Covid-19 pandemic have led to shortages of medical supplies and equipment. This highlighted the needs to strengthen supply-chain of pharmaceutical products to ensure a timely access of pharmaceutical products to ASEAN people. Policy reforms are necessary to address trade barriers in the trade of pharmaceutical products such as the registration procedures that could take few months to years and the different interpretations of the principle-based standards or regulation amongst different AMS. Particularly as research from Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) in 2021 showed that production of pharmaceuticals in ASEAN is highly internationalised and relies heavily on the Global Value Chain (GVC).
Continue reading the article here: ASEAN for Business Bulletin – September 2022