ASEAN to eliminate technical barriers to pharmaceutical trade

BANGKOK, July 5 (TNA) - Government regulators and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry of 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are gathering here this week to discuss requirements needed for the regional pharmaceutical harmonization, paving the way for the ASEAN Single Community by 2015. Organized by Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the 19th ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality-Pharmaceutical Product Working Group (ACCSQ-PPWG) Meeting, set from July 4-6, brought together over 400 delegates from the 10 ASEAN member countries to seek ways to eliminate technical barriers to regional pharmaceutical trade. Dato’ Eisah A Rahman, Senior Director of Malaysia’s Pharmaceutical Service Division, in her capacity as the Chair of ACCSQ-PPWG, said at the inaugural session of the meeting on Wednesday that, apart from its main objective of providing guidelines to reduce technical trade barriers for certain pharmaceutical products, this year’s ACCSQ-PPWG meeting is also aimed at launching a pilot programme under which regional pharmaceutical manufacturers wanting to expand their market are encourage to fulfill all the requirements to achieve their expanded shipments throughout ASEAN. According to the ACCSQ-PPWG chair, established ASEAN member states, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand, have resolved to expedite the regional pharmaceutical harmonization process through regular training and capacity building programs provided for the new member countries, called the CLMV group comprising Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. The ACCSQ-PPWG chair acknowledged that international bodies, namely the World Health Organization or WHO, have also provided technical support for the ASEAN pharmaceutical harmonization process. The ACCSQ-PPWG Meeting was first held in 1999, with Thailand taking turn to host the regional meeting this year. (TNA)