The Department of Trade and Industry, through the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), sealed a partnership with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals (Phils.) to establish the country’s first pharma innovation hub, a flagship project aimed at boosting healthcare innovation and expanding access to affordable medicines.
DTI Secretary Cristina Roque, who also chairs the PEZA Board, witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday between PEZA Director General Tereso Panga and AstraZeneca Philippines country president Lotis Ramin.
Under the agreement, AstraZeneca’s innovation hub will serve as a regional center for digital health technology, research and development collaboration, and patient-centered healthcare solutions.
The initial project will be an Oncology Innovation Center, modeled after AstraZeneca’s pharma hub in the United Kingdom.
The center will use artificial intelligence for early cancer detection, expand patient-support systems, build healthcare workforce capacity, and promote evidence-based policy development.
The MOU also includes initiatives where AstraZeneca will support the Philippines’ investment promotion drive by holding business forums, investment briefings, business-to-business match-making sessions, and international delegations to attract local and foreign healthcare-related investments.
In turn, PEZA will help AstraZeneca identify strategic ecozone locations for its projects, assist with regulatory processes, and connect the company with support industries and potential joint venture partners
Roque said the initiative reflects DTI’s commitment to link trade, industry, and healthcare to benefit the Filipino people.
“The pharma innovation hub shows what we can achieve when global expertise meets local commitment. This partnership with AstraZeneca and PEZA is a big step toward President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s goal of making medicines more affordable and accessible, while also laying the foundation for the Philippines to become a hub for research, digital health, and new medical investments,” Roque noted.
PEZA Director General Panga said the hub is part of the agency’s plan to establish more medical-centered ecozones.
“We want to attract more companies that are into development, manufacturing and research in the medical field in order to create a value chain that will lead to the lowering of cost of medicines for Filipinos,” Panga said.
“This is a call of the President that we have set to heart and embraced to its fruition. We have already established the first pharma ecozone and this with AstraZeneca is another momentous event towards achieving our conjoined objectives.”
The pharmaceutical sector is one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing industries, with more than 14 multinational companies.
Over 50 manufacturers and medical device firms, like Terumo Philippines, Merck Business Solutions, JMS Healthcare and Royale Life Pharma, are operating in PEZA zones nationwide. (PR)
