P307: Promoting Innovative Strategies in Asia for Addressing Drug Supply Shortages
Poster Presenter
ChiaPing Liu
Senior Technical Specialist
Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) Taiwan
Objectives
With the globalization of drug supply chains, disruptions at any point in the chain can affect overall supply stability, and drug shortages have become a shared global challenge. This study aims to strengthen Taiwan’s drug supply management system to ensure a resilient and stable supply of medicines.
Method
This study reviews drug shortage reports received over the past five years from 2021 to 2025. It analyzes the total number of cases, sources of reports, and reasons for shortages. Based on this analysis, the study evaluates Taiwan’s drug supply management strategies and provides related policy recommendations.
Results
To address global drug supply challenges, Taiwan has strengthened its supply management system since 2012 by introducing risk assessment and implementing strategies such as regulatory improvements, monitoring, and shortage response mechanisms.
Over the past five years, reports of drug shortages in Taiwan have shown an overall increasing trend. In 2023, following the easing of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the gradual lifting of control measures, demand for drugs for respiratory and gastrointestinal infectious diseases increased, leading to supply–demand imbalances and a rise in reported drug shortages. In addition, international instability, including wars and changes in trade and economic conditions, has affected the stability of Taiwan’s drug supply.
Further analysis of the causes of these shortages indicates that they are associated with multiple factors, including adjustments in drug manufacturing processes and production scheduling (such as facility upgrades and workforce shortages), imbalances between supply and demand (such as supply chain disruptions in the transportation and importation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished products, as well as outbreaks of infectious diseases), and heavy reliance on imported APIs. Overall, this analysis indicates that drug supply issues exhibit multifaceted structural characteristics, and
suggests that Taiwan’s current drug supply management and risk response mechanisms still need improvement.
Conclusion
In response to the issue of drug shortages, this study proposes several policy recommendations, including strengthening compliance with GMP standards at the manufacturing stage and improving process stability; introducing a drug supply risk management system that requires manufacturers to develop supply plans based on risk classification; establishing emergency response and backup mechanisms; promoting the use of generic drugs through policy incentives; reducing market concentration risks by encouraging diversified supply sources, expanding production capacity, and accelerating regulatory review processes; and fostering long-term partnerships and contingency contracts between healthcare institutions and suppliers to enhance the resilience of critical drug supply chains.
In terms of international cooperation, Taiwan may further strengthen supply resilience by participating in multinational drug supply alliances and signing mutual assistance agreements with partner countries, thereby building a regional backup supply network and improving the overall robustness of the drug supply system.
