The Philippines’ Medical Device Market
The medical device market in the Philippines
- The medical device market in the Philippines is expected to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% growing to US$884.3 million by the end of 2024 as reported by Fitch Solutions. The Philippines relies heavily on imports for medical devices and local production is limited to prototype units and disposables such as surgical gloves, syringes, and needles.
- The Philippines’ medical device market is price-sensitive and in a growth stage with major factors impacting demand including population growth, an increase in geriatric population, steady economic growth, and hospital expansion and up-gradation.
- The market is almost totally dependent on imports of high-value, low-volume products such as electro-medical devices, imaging equipment, radiation equipment, dialysis devices, and linear accelerators. Almost 100% of medical equipment and approximately 50% of medical disposables are imported.
- Local production is limited to accessories, spare parts (including customized parts), and disposables such as surgical gloves, syringes, and needles.
- Based on the FDA database, there were 14,443 registered Medical Devices and IVDs in the Philippines at the end of 2020.
Regulatory authority and laws governing medical devices in the Philippines
- Medical devices and IVDs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a regulatory agency under the Department of Health, and is mandated to ensure the safety, efficacy or quality of health products as defined by RA No. 9711.
- The main overarching legislation concerning medical devices in the Philippines is the Republic Act 9711; however please be aware that new legislation is being introduced from 2021 onwards.
The Philippines’ healthcare system
- The Philippines' healthcare system is a dual health system composed of the public sector and the private sector. The public sector is largely financed through a tax-based budgeting system, where health services are delivered by government facilities run by the National and local governments. The private sector, consisting of for-profit and nonprofit health-care providers, is largely market-oriented where healthcare is generally paid for through user fees at the point of service.
- The Philippines Total Health Expenditure (THE) was US$18.6 billion in 2019, which comprised Current Health Expenditure (87.5%) on hospitals, pharmacies and management, as well as Health Capital Formation Expenditure (12.5%).
Industry associations
- In-Vitro Diagnostics Distributors Association of the Philippines (IVD DAP) is another non-profit association composed of IVD Distributors in the Philippines.
- The Philippine Association of Medical Device Regulatory Affairs Professionals (PAMDRAP) is a non-stock and non-profit association composed of Regulatory Affairs professionals from local and multinational medical device companies. PAMDRAP is the first and currently the only medical device industry association recognized by the Center for Device Regulation, Radiation Health and Research of the Food and Drug Administration in the Philippines.
Key annual exhibitions and events
- Medical Philippines Expo
- Philippine College of Radiology (PCR) Convention, showcasing diagnostic imaging devices
- Joint Annual Convention of the CT-MRI Society of the Philippines and Ultrasound Society of the Philippines, showcasing CT, MRI and Ultrasound machines
- Joint Annual Convention of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology, The Philippine Society of Digestive Endoscopy and the Hepatology Society of the Philippines, showcasing endoscopy devices
- Philippine Heart Association Annual Convention, showcasing medical devices used in cardiology.
General economic and demographic statistics
- Population of 109.5 million in 2020 according to Statista which makes it the second largest country in ASEAN, behind Indonesia and slightly ahead of Vietnam
- People aged 65 and over in 2020 constituted around 4.86% of the population according to IndexMundi which is expected to rise to 7.7% by 2025.
- The country’s health profile depicts a distinct epidemiologic and demographic transition characterized by double burden of diseases consisting of communicable diseases (which require major public health intervention) and non-communicable diseases (which need expensive curative and chronic-care intervention). This scenario makes the country’s health profile a “hybrid” or combination of health situations found in both developed and developing countries. Similar to Sub-Saharan Africa, many regions in the Philippines are still struggling to eliminate hunger and infectious diseases while continually battling on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as experienced in developed countries. The health status of the country therefore can be best described to be at the crossroads of infectious and non-communicable diseases.
- The leading cause of morbidity each year between 2016 and 2018 was acute respiratory tract infections with hypertension as the top leading cause of non-communicable diseases in the same period
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is calculated to be 7.4% in 2021 and forecasted to be 6.5% in 2025 according to the International Monetary Fund
- Unemployment rate of 8.3% in Q4 of 2020 according to Moody’s Analytics which reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; generally the rate over the last few years has been around 2-4%.
