Health minister aware of Pharmaniaga’s financial woes

 

Dr Zaliha Mustafa said Pharmaniaga Bhd was not under the purview of the health ministry and therefore further discussions were required to resolve the issue.

PETALING JAYA: Health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa says she is aware of Pharmaniaga Bhd’s financial situation.

Zaliha said the health ministry was constantly engaging with the pharmaceutical company, which is the concession holder for the provision of medicines and medical supplies to government hospitals and clinics.

“We heard that Pharmaniaga is taking care of the issue and they are doing their level best to solve it,” she told FMT.

She said Pharmaniaga was not under the purview of the health ministry and therefore further discussions were required to resolve the issue.

On Friday, the main association representing pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia sounded the alarm over Pharmaniaga’s financial woes, saying it could affect patients’ access to medicines if not quickly resolved.

Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA) executive director Chan Li Jin said Pharmaniaga’s Practice Note 17 (PN17) classification for financially distressed companies had led to “uncertainty and anxiety” among medicine suppliers.

Pharmaniaga is responsible for obtaining more than a third, or over 700 of the government’s branded and generic drug supply, as well as for the logistics and distribution of these medicines.

Chan said Pharmaniaga’s financial situation had created unease over Pharmaniaga’s ability to pay pharmaceutical companies for their medicines despite the company’s assurances.

On Feb 27, Pharmaniaga announced that it had fallen under the PN17 classification after it recorded its largest quarterly net loss of RM664.39 million in the fourth quarter ending Dec 31, 2022.

The pharmaceutical group also said it had taken a RM552.3 million impairment on unsold Covid-19 vaccines and also written down the goodwill of its Indonesian manufacturing cash-generating units of RM50.3 million.

The announcement saw its share price plummet 50% from 44 sen to a low of 22 sen. As of 2pm Friday, Pharmaniaga’s share price stood at 30 sen.

Pharmaniaga had given assurances that it was committed to working out a regularisation plan to strengthen the group’s financial standing and ensure the viability of its core business activities. - FMT