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There has been much hemming and hawing over the Malaysian government's continual reduction of gasoline subsidies. Many in the public have denounced yet another price increase, while the government has weakly and ineffec

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

tively defended the price hike. What both sides are missing is the bigger picture of why certain goods and services should be subsidised, and others shouldn't.

In the first place, the government should never have so he

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

avily subsidised fuel. This callous easygoing manner of subsidising what is essentially a consumer good would not benefit anyone in the long run. Now that the government is trying to undo its mistake, it is being forced

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

to take fire from the public.

However, the public -- as grave as their concerns may be -- is not thinking about the long run. Economic theory has already proven that nearly any intervention in the price mechanism caus

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

es a "deadweight loss" -- where both consumers and suppliers lose a certain amount of profit or utility from the good. It can be argued that theory does not always correspond with reality, but the simple truth is that w

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

ith so large a subsidy, it is difficult to see how the present situation can be anything but comfortable for anyone's bottom line.

It is of course true that most consumers do not see it that way -- lower prices are, af

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ter all, a boon for them. In the long run, however, can the wanton consumption of fossil fuels encouraged by government subsidies not harm us? Surely we would gain more were we to export the petroleum currently guzzled

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

by our subsidised national cars, and get back the world market price instead of having to expend taxpayer money on subsidising fuel? To be frank, I believe the government is correct in its aim to eventually lift all pet

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

rol subsidies. The government -- and hopefully by extension the rakyat -- can earn more by selling our natural resources at the world market price than by actually raking in a loss by subsidising those same resources.

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

That is not to say all subsidies are bad. Many subsidies can be considered an investment for the long run. For instance, widely accessible and high-quality education or healthcare will benefit the nation as a whole far

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

ore than making the drive to work a little cheaper. Some cite the multiplier effect of the price hike, but surely investing in education will yield a multiplier effect as well -- one more good teacher could train ten mo

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

re good teachers, who could in turn train more...and so on. Education and healthcare can be viewed as capital goods -- those that will yield dividends for the nation in the long run, increasing our production capability

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

-- while petroleum is, by and large, a consumer good -- nice to have, maybe even necessary, but not high-yielding enough to demand backbreaking subsidies from the government.

I am of course not that naive to think tha

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

t the government will spend our money wisely. The appropriate thing to do, if the government was to divert spending from subsidies to some other portion of the budget, would either be to give the public a tax break or m

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ake it absolutely crystal clear what the money would be spent on. Now, at least the public knows what its taxes are being used for. The petrol subsidies may not benefit us entirely in the long run, but at least we -- an

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

d not cronies or politicians -- would be the ultimate beneficiaries, even if for only a while.

The government has not made it clear how it plans to spend the money. Deputy Premier Najib Tun Razak has mentioned somethin

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

g about "public transport". Well? Surely the government has a plan on how to allocate the money. And what about the rural majority? While the prices of their necessities increase, how will their loss in real income be o

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ffset? It is my frank opinion that the government will not do much to benefit the rakyat with its "earnings" from reducing the subsidies. One expects the money to be shoveled onto the gravy train, for someone's cronies

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

to ride, or used to cover the losses of yet another harebrained scheme which used taxpayer money.

These unpleasant implications do not indict the lifting of the subsidies. I believe any leader who thinks the subsidies

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

should have remained as they are is not looking far ahead into the future. A leader who will have my support is a leader who will use our money to invest in the education of our young, and the well-being of our citizens

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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