Abstract
Malaysia has a relatively well-functioning healthcare system that, with small and limited resources, ensures access to services for the vast majority of the population, including the poor. Between 1990 and 2009 life expectancy at birth increased significantly (from 69.0 to 71.5 years for men, and from 73.5 to 76.3 years for women); the infant mortality rate fell (from 13.5 to 6.2 per 1000 live births); while the maternal mortality rate held steady (at 29 per 100,000 live births) (MOH, 2010). Malaysia has a dual system of public and private health services. The main public healthcare provider is theMalaysian Ministry of Health (MOH), which operates primary care, secondary care and tertiary care facilities across the country through general hospitals, district hospitals and health clinics. In 2010 there were 2833 health clinics, 131 MOH hospitals (with 33,211 beds), and six special medical institutions (with 4582 beds), for a population of 28.3 million (MOH, 2010).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Al-Gedadi, N. A., M. A. Hassali and A. A. Shafie (2008) ‘A Pilot Survey on Perceptions and Knowledge of Generic Medicines Among Consumers in Penang, Malaysia’, Pharmacy Practice 6, 93–7.
AMCHAM see American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce.
American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (2006) ‘Public Submission for the Proposed US–Malaysia Free Trade Agreement’, http://www.ftamalaysia.org/file_dir/189810006944cdb0c12ad9b.pdf, date accessed 12 April 2011.
Azmi, I. M. and R. Alavi (2001) ‘TRIPS, Patents, Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment and the Pharmaceutical Industry in Malaysia’, The Journal of World Intellectual Property 4, 947–76.
Babar, Z. D., M. I. M. Ibrahim and N. I. Bukahri (2005) ‘A Pricing Analysis of Cardiovascular and Blood Products after Privatization of Drug Distribution Systemin Malaysia’, Journal of Pharmaceutical Finance, Economics & Policy 14, 3–25.
Babar, Z. U. D., M. I. M. Ibrahim, H. Singh, N. I. Bukahri and A. Creese (2007) ‘Evaluating Drug Prices, Availability, Affordability, and Price Components: Implications for Access to Drugs in Malaysia’, PLoS Medicine 4, e82.
BMI, see Business Monitor International Business Monitor International (2010) Malaysia Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report (London: Business Monitor International), http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18751725/281346239/name/Malaysian+pharmaceutical+and+Healthcare+report+Q4+2010.pdf/kq/groups/18751725/281346239/name/Malaysian+pharmaceutical+and+Healthcare+report+Q4+2010.pdf, date accessed 12 December 2010.
Business Monitor International (2011) Malaysia Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report (London: Business Monitor International), http://www.businessmonitor. com/pharma/malaysia.html, date accessed 12 December 2012.
Chandler, L. L. and H. D. Samaroo (2010) ‘Pfizer and the Greenstone Brand: A Sustainable Competitive Advantage & Quest’, Journal of Medical Marketing 10, 155–64.
Chaudhuri, S. (2011) ‘Multinationals and Monopolies: Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS’, http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s19026en/s19026en.pdf, date accessed 3 January 2012.
Ding, J. A. (2010) ‘Private Healthcare: Too Expensive?’ The Nut Graph, 6 July, http://www.thenutgraph.com/private-healthcare-too-expensive//private-healthcare-too-expensive/, date accessed 12 April 2011.
Economic Planning Unit (2010) Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011–2015), Prime Minister’s Department, Putrajaya, http://www.epu.gov.my/html/themes/epu/html/RMKE10/img/pdf/en/foreword.pdf, date accessed 10 August 2011.
Economic Transformation Programme (2010) Economic Transformation Programme, Putrajaya, http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/Overview_of_NKEAs_-@-Overview_of_NKEAs.aspx/Overview_of_NKEAs_-@-Overview_of_NKEAs.aspx, date accessed 10 December 2010.
Faridah, A. Y., O. Nourhanah, A. R. Fatimah, M. G. Nadia and A. Goh (2010) ‘Expenditure on Medicines in Malaysia’ in Malaysian Statistics on Medicines 2007 (Ministry of Health: Kuala Lumpur), https://www.macr.org.my/nhsi/document/publication/MalaysianStatisticsOnMedicine2007.pdf, date accessed 4 December 2010.
Flynn, S. M. (2010) ‘Special 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Global Access to Medicines’, Journal of Generic Medicines 7, 309–33.
Foong, P. Y. (2004) ‘Cheaper 3-in-1 HIV Treatment’, The Star, 7 June, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/6/7/nation/8153623&sec=nation/news/story.asp?file=/2004/6/7/nation/8153623&sec=nation, date accessed 14 December 2010.
Gopakumar, K.M. (2010) ‘Foreign Acquisition and Access to Medicines: Case of India’, Trade Insight 6(3–4), 52–3.
Hassali, M. A., K. H. Yuen, M. I. Ibrahim, J. W. Wong, B. H. Ng and H. S. David (2009) ‘Malaysian Pharmaceutical Industry: Opportunities and Challenges’, Journal of Generic Medicines 6, 246–52.
Khor, M. (2009) ‘Patents, Compulsory Licences and Access to Medicines: Some Recent Experiences’, Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines: Papers and Perspectives, http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/IPR/pdf/ipr10.pdf, date accessed 6 December 2010.
Kudrin, A. (2009) ‘Challenges in the Clinical Development Requirements for the Marketing Authorization of New Medicines in Southeast Asia’, The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 49, 268–80.
Lek, C. S. (2005) ‘Health Plan to be Modelled after Socso’, The Star, 14 December, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/14/nation/12859112&sec=nation/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/14/nation/12859112&sec=nation, date accessed 2 December 2010.
Malaysian Organization of Pharmaceutical Industries (2010) ‘The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Industry’, http://www.mopi.org.my, date accessed 10 December 2010.
Merican, I. and R. Yon (2002) ‘Health Care Reform and Changes: The Malaysian Experience’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 14, 17–22.
Ministry of Health (2008) Malaysia’s Health. Chapter 3-Health System Management, pg 162–165 available at http://www.moh.gov.my/images/gallery/publications/mh/Malaysia%20Health%202008-2.pdf, date accessed 8th March 2012.
Ministry of Health Malaysia (2010) Malaysian Health Facts 2010, http://www.moh.gov.my/v/stats_si/v/stats_si, date accessed 4 June 2011.
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (2007) Industry Profile: Chemical.Malaysia Trade and Industry Portal, http://www.miti.gov.my/ekpweb/application?origin=publishedcontents.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=miti&subpageid=contentdetails§ion=content&global/ekpweb/application?origin=publishedcontents.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.refresh&pageid=miti&subpageid=contentdetails§ion=content&global, date accessed 2 December 2010.
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (2010) Free Trade Agreement, http://www.miti.gov.my/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.section.Section_8ab55693-7f000010-72f772f7-46d4f042/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.section.Section_8ab55693-7f000010-72f772f7-46d4f042, date accessed 3 December 2010.
MITI see Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
MOH see Ministry of Health Malaysia.
MOPI see Malaysian Organization of Pharmaceutical Industries.
Naidu, G. R. (1999) ‘Demand/Supply Study for Pharmaceuticals in Malaysia’, Report Prepared for the International Trade Centre, http://www.intracen.org/sstp/Survey/pharma00/Malaysia-pharmacafe00-sds.pdf/sstp/Survey/pharma00/Malaysia-pharmacafe00-sds.pdf, date accessed 7 December 2010.
National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (2009) Annual Report 2009, http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js18585en//medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js18585en/, date accessed 6 December 2010.
National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (2011) Directive on Data Exclusivity, http://portal.bpfk.gov.my/index.cfm?menuid=90&parentid=15/index.cfm?menuid=90&parentid=15, date accessed 3 January 2012.
Padma, T. V. (2011) ‘Action Urged on Foreign Takeovers of Indian Drug Makers’, Nature Medicine 17, 141.
Paul-Raj, A. (2010) ‘Boustead Takes over Pharmaniaga for RM534m’, New Strait Times, 15 June, http://www.pharmaniaga.com:8080/pharmaweb/files/news-20100615043757-NST%2012%20June.pdf:8080/pharmaweb/files/news-20100615043757-NST%2012%20June.pdf, date accessed 14 February 2012.
Pharmaceutical Services Division (2007) National Medicines Policy of Malaysia, http://www.pharmacy.gov.my/, date accessed 10 January 2011.
Pharmaceutical Services Division (2008) Medicine Price Monitoring Survey—An Analysis of Price Variation, Trend and Mark-Ups in the Public and Private Sector, http://www.pharmacy.gov.my/aeimages//File/Bulletin_My.MedPrice_2009.pdf/aeimages//File/Bulletin_My.MedPrice_2009.pdf, date accessed 5 December 2010.
Pharmaceutical Services Division (2012) National Essential Drug List, http://www.pharmacy.gov.my/v2/sites/default/files/document-upload/nedl-only-list-publishwebsite.pdf/v2/sites/default/files/document-upload/nedl-only-list-publishwebsite.pdf accessed 8th March 2012.
Rasiah, R. (2005) ‘Trade-related Investment Liberalization under the WTO: The
Malaysian Experience’, Global Economic Review 34, 453–71.
Razak, A. D. (1998) ‘Going Generic and Bringing Health to All’, New Straits Times, 25 June, http://www.prn.usm.my/old_website/edl/generic.html, date accessed 1 December 2010.
Seiter, A. (2007) ‘Access to Medicines and the Innovation Dilemma—Can Pharmaceutical Multinationals Be Good Corporate Citizens?’ in G. Hanekamp and F. Wütscher (eds) Business Ethics of Innovation (Berlin: Springer).
Shafie, A. A. and M. A. Hassali (2008) ‘Price Comparison Between Innovator and Generic Medicines Sold by Community Pharmacies in the State of Penang, Malaysia’, Journal of Generic Medicines 6, 35–42.
Smith, R. D., C. Correa and C. Oh (2009) ‘Trade, TRIPS, and Pharmaceuticals’, The Lancet 373, 684–91.
Smith, S. R. (2008) Intellectual Property in Free Trade Agreements (Penang: Third World Network), http://www.twnside.org.sg/, date accessed 20 December 2010.
Tarn, Y. H., S. Hu, I. Kamae, B. M. Yang, S. C. Li, V. Tangcharoensathien, Y. Teerawattananon, S. Limwattananon, A. Hameed and S.M. Aljunid (2008) ‘Health Care Systems and Pharmacoeconomic Research in Asia Pacific Region’, Value in Health 11, S137–55.
Third World Network (2008) Preliminary Analysis of the Likely Impact of a US/EU Free Trade Agreement on Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises, http://www.ftamalaysia.org/file_dir/57172350648771a540fb2c.doc, date accessed 4 December 2010.
WHO see World Health Organization
World Bank (2011) Harnessing National Health Accounts to Strengthen Policymaking, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTHSD/Resources/376278-1261143298590/6660179-1321038458305/CaseStudiespub92911web.pdf/INTHSD/Resources/376278-1261143298590/6660179-1321038458305/CaseStudiespub92911web.pdf, date accessed 16 January 2012.
World Health Organization (2006) The World Health Report 2006: Working Together for Health, http://www.who.int/whr/2006/en/index.html/whr/2006/en/index.html, date accessed 25 December 2010.
Yu, C. P., D. K. Whynes and T. H. Sach (2008) ‘Equity in Health Care Financing: The Case of Malaysia’, International Journal for Equity in Health 7, 1–15.
Zaman, H. H. (2001) ‘The Generic Pharmaceutical Industry in Malaysia’, B. Pharm Thesis, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Mohamed Azmi Hassali, Jayabalan Thambyappa, Shankaran Nambiar, Asrul Akmal Shafie and Hans Löfgren
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hassali, M.A., Thambyappa, J., Nambiar, S., Shafie, A.A., Löfgren, H. (2013). TRIPS, Free Trade Agreements and the Pharmaceutical Industry in Malaysia. In: Löfgren, H., Williams, O.D. (eds) The New Political Economy of Pharmaceuticals. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137315854_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137315854_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32976-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31585-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)