Taiwan’s Department of Health (DOH) plans to introduce a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) system to control rising healthcare costs. This HTA system would require all medical devices, new drugs and innovative surgical procedures to demonstrate effectiveness in improving patients’ health and cutting... Read More
The Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) is facing serious financial problems with a deficit of about $104 million. Last year, the BNHI borrowed $2.3 billion and owed $100 million in interest to pay for healthcare reimbursement. This year, the BNHI has... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has recently drafted a post-marketing system to harmonize medical device adverse event reporting. AHWP members have varied systems for adverse event reporting, and some have no system at all. The new draft document aims at reducing... Read More
With steadily increasing drug development costs and significant time spent on clinical trials, outsourcing clinical trials in Asia has rapidly become an appealing option for many firms. As developing a single drug can cost more than $200 million and take at least... Read More
Taiwan’s Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) plans to change its payment system to a Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) system in the next year. By establishing this DRG system, the BNHI hopes to decrease waste and improve hospital efficiency. A DRG system means... Read More
The Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) of Taiwan recently issued its fifth round of drug price cuts, to take effect from November 1, 2006. This cut represented a compromise from earlier plans. The initial proposal put forward by the government was... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has recently drafted a “Common Submission Dossier Template” (CSDT). If adopted, this would allow medical device companies to use one common form when submitting to any of the 13 countries in the AHWP. By adopting this... Read More
Taiwan’s Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, a section of the Department of Health, is working on plans to raise clinical trial review fees for New Chemical Entities (NCEs) from the current level of about $1,500 to about $18,300, or somewhere in between. No... Read More
While orphan drug laws in Asia may provide benefits for companies registering new drugs, such as marketing exclusivity, an expedited registration process, and a reduction in the number of clinical trials required, each registration process is unique and can pose a variety... Read More
Asia has a population of over 4 billion people, and represents about 60% of the world's population. Annual economic growth rates in the Asian countries have been as high as 8 or 10% over the past decade, in comparison with some developed... Read More