The New Southbound Policy plays an important role for Taiwan's economic and trade strategies. To promote the New Southbound Policy and to enhance the cooperation between Taiwan and the ASEAN countries, Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) hosts “2019 Taiwan-ASEAN Drug Regulatory Symposium” from November 13^th to 14^th, 2019 in Taipei. Representatives of the regulatory authorities from Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Japan are invited to attend this great event and share the updated drug regulatory system and generic drug regulations in ASEAN countries, respectively.

The topic of this year’s symposium focuses on generic drug regulations. In this symposium, representatives from each country share their updated generic drug regulations in a one-day workshop and a one-day public symposium. Due to the rapid growth of emerging market in ASEAN countries, international pharmaceutical companies are prompted to enter. However, the differences in drug regulations and languages often restrict the industries from entering the market. In order to facilitate the global development of the commercial opportunities for Taiwan’s pharmaceutical industries, TFDA designs several topics such as regulatory framework of drug quality control, and updated regulatory requirements for generic drug registration etc. in 2-days activities. Furthermore, TFDA also arrange a face-to-face reception, which provides a sharing and consulting opportunity for regulators and industries.  

Through the in-depth and comprehensive information exchanges in the Taiwan-ASEAN Drug Regulatory Symposium, TFDA hopes to promote communication and cooperation with ASEAN countries, and helps the industries to explore the commercial opportunities of the domestic pharmaceutical industry in the new southbound market, thus to create a mutually beneficial situation.