DTI lures India pharma firm to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is encouraging Indian pharmaceutical firms to invest and make the Philippines its manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia.

In a statement, DTI-Export Marketing Bureau director Senen Perlada said the Philippines is an ideal gateway to Southeast Asia for Indian pharmaceutical firms.

“Maybe India’s hesitation is the scale. But think of the ASEAN market, not just the Philippine market. Our country will be a good, if not the best, hub to manufacture. We have a lot of natural ingredients that have found their way to pharmaceuticals like moringa or malunggay , yellow ginger, virgin coconut oil, and others,” he said.

Perlada presented opportunities in the Philippines for India’s pharmaceutical firms during a recent webinar organized by the World Trade Centers in Metro Manila and Mumbai.

Board of Investments director Eries Cagatan said the local pharmaceutical industry has potential for growth.

There are 46 manufacturers, 650 importers, and 4,800 distributors in the pharmaceutical industry serving the $4.5 billion domestic market.

Citing market intelligence firm IHS Markit, the DTI said the Philippines is seen to grow at a faster pace of 7.18 percent in 2022 to 2028, than the 6.39 percent growth projected for the Asia Pacific.

To attract Indian pharmaceutical firms to invest in the country, Ambassador Ramon Bagatsing Jr. said there is a need to strengthen the Philippine India joint working group in trade and investments between DTI and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry that last convened in 2016.

He also suggested the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the two countries for the protection of investments.

In addition, he pushed for cooperation in medical products regulation between the Food and Drug Administration and India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization.

In a telephone conversation with President Duterte last June, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to help the Philippines combat COVID-19 by providing a vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical firms in India.

DTI said there are two companies supplying 90 percent of the COVID-19 treatment drug Remdesivir in the Philippines and two others that would like to provide these medicines.

Bagatsing said he expects India to allocate these medicines and the vaccine to the Philippines as part of India’s Act East policy, which seeks to promote cooperation with Southeast and East Asian countries.