KUALA LUMPUR (July 15): Pharmaniaga Bhd said the current pharmaceutical product shortage will normalise by end-July to end-August this year as the pharmaceutical industry is ramping up production, while the government is expected to announce the release of its stockpile to the private market to ease the current shortage.
Pharmaniaga group deputy managing director Mohamed Iqbal Abdul Rahman said the industry was unable to address the pharmaceutical product supply shortage promptly as production could not be ramped up immediately, due to the need to procure additional raw materials.
“It is not like you can just produce [more] immediately. You need to get the raw materials. That is why it took time for the whole industry to manage [the supply shortage issue].
“The pharmaceutical industry has started producing more. Hopefully we should see some normalisation by the end of July and some of the products should be normalised by the end of August,” he said.
Duopharma Biotech Bhd group managing director Leonard Ariff Abdul Shatar was reported as saying on Thursday that the pharmaceutical product shortage was due to various factors, including under-forecasting of imported supplies, supply chain disruptions and foreign exchange movements.
Mohamed Iqbal concurred that supply chain disruptions were a contributing factor behind the drug supply shortage but said the main reason behind the shortage was the elevated demand for pharmaceutical products, which he noted was above pre-Covid-19 levels.
“The Shanghai [Covid-19] lockdown did impact the bringing of some of our raw materials, as well active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). The Ukraine[-Russia] war did not help as well because some of the excipients used in drug making also come from Ukraine. However, there is always an alternative [source], to ensure that there is only minimal disruption to operations
“From my analysis, the demand has increased beyond 2019. From 2021 to 2022, we said we expected a jump in demand due to the government’s relaxation of [restrictions], but the demand has increased beyond 2019, so that is actually the main reason,” Mohamed Iqbal said.
Meanwhile, referring to the pharmaceutical company’s meeting with the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Medical Association (MAA) in regards to the pharmaceutical product supply shortage, Mohamed Iqbal said the parties discussed about educating the public to avoid panic buying as Omicron-induced panic buying also compounded the supply shortage issue.
“Omicron is not helping either. While cases have gone down, it (Covid-19) continues to be there, and some are not being reported. But people have been consuming [pharmaceutical products] and people have also been panic buying.
“One of the things we discussed was that everyone needs to be educated to not panic, the stocks are there. It is just that you cannot rush and buy in big quantities,” he said.