New Market Research Report: Malaysia Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q1 2015

Malaysia's 2015 budget reinforces our upbeat outlook on the country's pharmaceutical market. Rising healthcare expenditure plans to improve medical access and efforts to mitigate the impact of the Goods and Service Tax on medicine prices will provide companies with significant revenue - earn ing opportunities. However, downside risks to our outlook include further economic slowdown forecast for 2015, worries of an increasing number of imitation drugs and growing political differences within both the o pposition and ruling coalitions.

Headline Expenditure Projections

* Pharmaceuticals: MYR6.60bn (USD2.10bn) in 2013 to MYR7.22bn (USD2.25bn) in 2014; +9.3 % in local currency and +7.6% in US dollar terms. Forecast revised down from last quarter to better suit current market conditions.
* Healthcare: MYR40.27bn (USD12.78bn) in 2013 to MYR43.79bn (USD13.68bn) in 2014; +8.7% in local currency and +7.1% in US dollar terms. Forecast unchanged from last quarter's figures.

Full Report Details at
- http://www.fastmr.com/prod/938424_malaysia_pharmaceuticals_healthcare_report_q1.aspx?afid=301

Risk/Reward Index : Malaysia's Pharmaceutical Risk/Reward Index (RRI) score for Q115 is 58.9 out of 100, making it the eighth most attractive pharmaceutical market in the Asia Pacific region. It posts above-average scores for every indicator.

Key Trends And Developments

In November 2014, Health Minister Dr Subramaniam stated that Malaysia attracted over 770,000 foreigners seeking healthcare at the country's private hospitals in 2013, with Indonesians accounting for around 56.76% of the total. The number of Indonesians travelling for healthcare to Malaysia stood at over 437,000: more than 27,000 Indians, about 22,300 Japanese and 21,000 Chinese people. The country also recorded health tourism from other nations, including Libya (about 19,000), Britain (17,000), Australia (13,300), the US (12,300), Bangladesh (about 12,000) and the Philippines (10,500). About 95 foreign medical specialists, including 18 female specialists, were practicing in Malaysia as of the end of September 2014.

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