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The Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the Food and Drug Administration inked a memorandum of agreement to speed up the processing of permits for pharma investments in ecozones
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PEZA also signed the registration agreement to seal the proclamation of Victoria Industrial Park as special economic zone
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PEZA director general Tereso Panga said several pharma-related companies, including five Indian firms, have already announced their interest in setting up facilities within the ecozones
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FDA has cut down its registration process and will prolong the validity of its license to operate and certificate of product registration
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 31 inked a memorandum of agreement to speed up the processing of FDA-related permits for pharmaceutical-related investments in PEZA economic zones.
Also on the same day, PEZA signed the registration agreement (RA) to seal the proclamation of Victoria Industrial Park (VIP) as a special economic zone, also dubbed as the first pharma zone under the Marcos administration.
VIP is a 29.77-hectare economic zone located in Barangay Baculong, Victoria, Tarlac with an investment of P169 million. Even as PEZA just signed its RA, PEZA director general Tereso Panga said there are already plans for a second phase, which will also be around 30 hectares.
“Surely, with these two milestone events today, we can contribute some more to bring in more pharma-related investments and ultimately contribute to the President’s goal of making vibrant our pharma sector so that we can bring down cost of medicine for everyone,” said Panga.
Panga noted that the Philippines imports more than 70% of its pharmaceutical products and has one of the lowest numbers of pharmaceutical companies in Southeast Asia.
“In the realm of our pharmaceutical supply chain, the pandemic exposed our vulnerabilities and over-reliance on other countries. The pharma ecozone model aims to address these challenges by attracting foreign direct investments into manufacturing and other support activities, as well as in enabling local manufacturers to grow and export,” he explained.
As opposed to importing medicines, Panga said the idea is to attract a cluster of industries and develop the supply chain in one economic zone to ultimately bring down the cost of medicines.
“Ultimately, all our efforts will contribute to the government’s aim to increase local production share to 60% in the next decade,” Panga said.
Panga said even before the MOA signing, several pharma-related companies have already announced their interest in setting up facilities within PEZA zones, including five Indian companies that are into pharma packaging, active pharmaceutical ingredients and small molecules formulation, pharma logistics, and healthcare services. These are USV Private Limited, Scimplify, NephroPlus, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, and Shilpa Medicare Ltd.
PEZA recently went on an investment mission to India, which is the world’s largest providers of generic medicines by volume and is often hailed as the “pharmacy of the world.”
“We’re hopeful that we can bring them to Victoria (Industrial Park), so we can have a cluster of pharma related-investments in the area,” Panga said.
FDA director general Samuel Zacate said his agency is “innovating” their policies to cut down the registration process. He said he has already signed a memorandum circular for the facilitated registration pathway, which cut down the evaluation process from 180 days to 45 days.
Zacate said FDA has already submitted to the health secretary for his approval an order to prolong the validity of License to Operate from the current initial three years renewable to another five years, to initial six years and renewable for another 12 years.
The Certificate of Product Registration, except for monitored release, will be increased to six years initial and 12 years for renewal.
FDA also recently broke ground for its laboratory and administrative building in Victoria, Tarlac, bringing their services closer to stakeholders in the area. “It will be much faster for the stakeholder to connect with us because we will establish a one-stop-shop,” Zacate said.
There will also be dedicated FDA personnel that will help register and evaluate products that are coming from PEZA ecozone locators.
In addition to VIP, First Bulacan Business Park, which was proclaimed in 2021, is also seen to host medical research and development for the manufacturing of innovative, over-the-counter and generic drug products, medical instruments/equipment, and pharma cold chain. FBBP is adjacent to the First Bulacan Industrial City or the Pharma City of the North, which is home to eight pharma-related firms including Lloyd Laboratories, Pascual Laboratories, Lumar Pharmaceutical, Cargill Phils., and Cosmetique Asia.
As of December 2023, PEZA hosts 27 companies engaged in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing, including Terumo (Philippines) Corp., Arkray Industry, Inc., Royale Life Pharma Inc., JMS Healthcare PHL, Inc.; Philipcare Medical Manufacturing Inc., Kaneko Medical Philippine Inc., Merck Business Solutions Asia Inc., and Cargill Oil Mills Philippines, Inc.
These companies have collectively generated P25.525 billion in investments and created over 19,000 direct jobs.
READ: PEZA, FDA finalizing blueprint for pharma eco-zones
