The stability of Taiwan's pharmaceutical supply chains has evolved beyond a public health concern to become a crucial national security issue. In response, the Executive Yuan has approved a 2026-2029 program to strengthen Taiwan's drug resilience, with a focus on enhancing the nation's self-sufficiency and supply chain resilience for critical drugs. Through a whole-of-government strategy supported by action plans, the program comprehensively bolsters domestic pharmaceutical production, secure stockpiles and supply coordination systems, enhancing the health care system's emergency preparedness and stabilizing the supply of essential medicines. By advancing these efforts, the program will also foster the growth of a trillion-dollar biomedical industry centered on domestically produced drugs, improve health care readiness and guide Taiwan's development in the biomedical field.
Five key measures
■ Boosting domestic production: Advance the domestic production of critical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), critical pharmaceutical preparations and critical medical devices through grants, investment incentives and support for research and development.
■ Expanding use of domestic drugs and medical devices: Promote the use of locally manufactured generics and medical devices by leveraging industry, academia and research resources. Refine pricing policies for drugs under National Health Insurance coverage.
■ Implementing smart monitoring: Employ smart review processes and establish smart early-warning and monitoring systems for managing pharmaceutical supply and demand. Strengthen stockpiling and supply coordination systems for high-risk critical medications.
■ Strengthening regulatory guidance: Develop legislation on drug resilience—as a standalone act or as a dedicated chapter within existing laws—to establish a clear legal and policy basis.
■ Broadening international partnerships: Raise the global profile of Taiwan's pharmaceutical industry and expand opportunities for international collaboration. These goals can be achieved by actively promoting regional supply chain cooperation and exchanges on drug review processes, setting up Taiwan showcases at international exhibitions, and utilizing international business matchmaking.