President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Thursday chaired the seventh meeting of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, stressing that amid global supply chain reshuffles and rising geopolitical risks, stable drug supplies are no longer just a public health issue but a key element of national security and whole-of-society defense resilience. 

Lai issued three directives. First, fully advance the “drug resilience” strategic layout to build a secure, controllable medical defense line. He called for ministries to boost cross-agency execution to achieve production increases, risk diversification, and a medical line operable in peacetime and responsive in crises. 

Presidential Office spokesperson Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) relayed Lai’s remarks: “Ensuring a stable supply of key drugs is the government's duty. Please have the Health Ministry collaborate with the Economic Ministry, the Environmental Ministry, the Financial Ministry, the Nuclear Safety Commission, and other agencies to accelerate implementation of the three key tasks: ‘domestic production for domestic use, smart regulation, international alliances,’ per the existing schedule and division of labor.”

Second, build a precise monitoring and smart dispatching system for a robust supply chain. Lai directed the Health Ministry and the Economic Industry to inventory key drugs, use policy incentives, and R&D support to enhance self-manufacturing capacity, reduce reliance on single sources, and leverage digital tech for smart logistics, reserves, and early warnings.

Third, improve regulations and international ties to upgrade the biotech industry. Lai said ministries should refine laws and reviews to draw firms into R&D and manufacturing, while deepening ties with regional allies to elevate Taiwan’s visibility in global pharma chains. 

Additionally, to bolster medical supply security and drug resilience – and per committee suggestions – Lai directed consideration of suspending drug price investigations for three years starting this year for a comprehensive regime review. Kuo relayed that the president said the most important work in the next three years is to conduct a detailed inventory of the drug supply structure. There are currently 14,000 drug items under NHI payments, but medical institutions actually use around 1,700 items. She said the government will systematically classify these drugs to understand their domestic production capacity and self-sufficiency levels.