This Health Ministry proposal raises the risk Malaysians will have to pay more for medicine


MALAYSIA at a critical juncture in ensuring access to affordable medicines. The government’s recent decision to cut the Health budget by RM3.06bil, together with a proposed move by the Health Ministry on patents, risks threatening affordability.

In April, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) opened a public consultation on its proposed “Guideline on Implementation of Patent Linkage for Pharmaceutical Products in Malaysia”, presented as fulfilling an obligation under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans‑Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

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