The healthcare landscape in Malaysia is undergoing a significant transformation, and community pharmacies are no exception. Traditionally focused on dispensing medications and supplements, Malaysian community pharmacies are now poised to become critical hubs for managing patient health and wellness data. In this future-oriented model, pharmacists will take center stage, overseeing comprehensive patient care through data-driven insights and personalized health services.

Imagine a pharmacy that not only dispenses medications but also manages a patient’s medication history, chronic care needs, vaccination records, wellness screenings, daily health purchases, and even telehealth consultations. This transformation from a product-centric approach to a patient-centric and data-driven model will redefine the value community pharmacies provide—both to patients and the healthcare ecosystem.

The transformation of community pharmacies from a product-centric to a patient-centric model is crucial for several reasons:

1. Improving Patient Engagement and Satisfaction:

A patient-centric approach fosters stronger relationships between pharmacists and patients. Personalized interactions and tailored healthcare services enhance patient satisfaction and trust, leading to better adherence to treatment plans and overall health outcomes. 

2. Aligning with Digital Health Initiatives:

Malaysia is undergoing a digital transformation in healthcare, aiming for integrated and patient-centered services. Community pharmacies adopting patient-centric models can seamlessly integrate with digital health platforms, contributing to a cohesive healthcare ecosystem.

The product-centric model often forces pharmacies to compete on price, as the medications and supplements they offer are largely the same. This results in reduced profitability and diminishes the perception of pharmacists as healthcare professionals. 

Transitioning to a patient-centric model allows pharmacies to focus on providing unique, personalized services that differentiate them in the market and add long-term value to their customers.

Although transitioning Malaysian community pharmacies from a product-centric to a patient-centric model may sound good, however, it presents several challenges:

1. Limited Access to Comprehensive Patient Medical Information

Community pharmacists often lack access to patients' complete medical histories, hindering their ability to provide personalized care and effectively manage chronic conditions.

2. Underdeveloped Digital Health Infrastructure

The absence of a robust digital health system in Malaysia limits the ability of pharmacies to efficiently manage patient data, integrate services, and provide coordinated care.

3. Lack of Integration with Other Healthcare Professionals

Insufficient collaboration and communication between pharmacists and other healthcare providers impede coordinated care, resulting in fragmented services and suboptimal patient outcomes.

Patients may not fully recognize or expect the expanded role of pharmacists in providing healthcare services beyond medication dispensing, leading to underutilization of available services.

A Digital Health Tool Specifically Design For Community Pharmacies In Malaysia

Recognizing the challenges in transitioning Malaysian community pharmacies to a patient-centric model. Medcare was developed to address these issues. By providing a robust digital platform, Medcare enables pharmacies to efficiently manage patient data, facilitate seamless communication with healthcare providers, and deliver personalized care, thereby enhancing their role within Malaysia's healthcare system.

Records and Educate Patient Vital Records

 in Medcare empowers community pharmacies to become pivotal healthcare hubs by enabling the systematic recording, analysis, and communication of patient health data. 

, allowing pharmacists to efficiently perform tests such as blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol levels, and other vital parameters directly within the pharmacy setting.

With POC screening, pharmacists can provide immediate results, helping patients make timely and informed decisions about their health. These screenings are seamlessly recorded in Medcare, ensuring that vital data is captured for ongoing monitoring and care.

To further enhance patient understanding and engagement, Medcare offers 

visualized insights into their health data

. Patients' vital signs and screening results are presented in clear, easy-to-understand graphs, allowing both the pharmacist and the patient to track progress and identify trends over time. 

, providing patients with a professional, summarized document of their health records. These reports are particularly valuable for sharing with other healthcare providers or for personal record-keeping.

This combination of real-time POC screening, accessible visualizations, and detailed reports ensures that patients remain well-informed about their health, fostering stronger pharmacist-patient relationships. 

By leveraging these tools, pharmacies can enhance patient care, identify potential health risks early, and guide patients toward appropriate preventive measures or treatments with confidence. 

. These measurable outcomes highlight the significant value Medcare brings to both patients and pharmacy businesses.

Pharmacist as Professional Medication Management Provider

Community pharmacists often face time constraints that limit their ability to provide comprehensive medication management services. Managing patient medications, including preparing medication labels and ensuring accurate dispensing, can be a time-consuming process. This often detracts from the pharmacist's ability to engage with patients, provide counseling, or focus on broader healthcare needs.

 streamlines and automates these processes, allowing pharmacists to efficiently manage prescriptions while maintaining accuracy and professionalism. 

generate and print medication panels and medication labels

, significantly reducing the time spent on administrative tasks. The automation ensures that all necessary medication details, dosage instructions, and important warnings are clearly displayed.

A standout feature of Medcare’s medication labels is the inclusion of a 

. This innovative tool enables patients to easily reorder their medications by scanning the QR code using their smartphone. The QR code links directly to the pharmacy’s platform, where patients can quickly confirm their orders without needing to visit the pharmacy in person. This feature enhances convenience for patients and fosters loyalty by making medication refills seamless and hassle-free.

With these advancements, pharmacists can reclaim valuable time to focus on their role as healthcare providers, ensuring better patient outcomes and reinforcing their position as professional medication management experts. Medcare’s solution not only improves operational efficiency but also strengthens the bond between pharmacists and their patients.

Utilizing the Data: Empowering Pharmacists with Insights

Medcare transforms the data collected into actionable insights, providing community pharmacists with a powerful dashboard to analyze patient demographics, health conditions, and purchase behaviors. With this data, pharmacists can design targeted health campaigns, such as seasonal vaccination programs or wellness screenings. These insights also enable personalized product recommendations, ensuring patients receive tailored services while fostering loyalty and increasing satisfaction.

Our health dashboard visualizes health trends, enabling pharmacists to track patient progress, identify care gaps, and generate detailed health reports. These features empower pharmacies to take proactive steps in improving patient outcomes while demonstrating measurable impact. By understanding community health needs, pharmacies can also create data-driven campaigns that address prevalent conditions, ensuring both better care and stronger engagement with their patients.

Additionally, Medcare’s AI-powered assistant simplifies complex data analysis. It instantly checks for drug-drug interactions, interprets health reports, and offers actionable care suggestions. This automation saves time while enhancing the accuracy of recommendations, solidifying the pharmacist’s role as a trusted healthcare provider. 

Shaping the Future of Pharmacies Together

Medcare is more than just a digital platform; it’s a catalyst for transforming community pharmacies into essential hubs of patient-centered care. By streamlining processes, enhancing data utilization, and introducing tools that empower pharmacists, Medcare bridges the gap between traditional pharmacy practices and the demands of modern healthcare.

As pharmacies embrace this shift, they strengthen their role within the healthcare ecosystem, delivering personalized, data-driven services that improve patient outcomes and elevate the pharmacy’s value to the community. With Medcare, the future of community pharmacies is not just about dispensing medications—it’s about driving better health for everyone.

Ready to be part of this transformation? Contact us for more information!

Transforming community pharmacies in Malaysia from product-centric to patient-centric care is essential to address rising healthcare challenges. Discover how this shift improves patient outcomes, tackles chronic diseases, and positions pharmacies as key players in the evolving healthcare ecosystem.

Manfye Goh

The Future of Community Pharmacy: A Shift from Products to Patients Centric Care

This study aims to provide a comprehensive comparison of hypertension drugs registered in Malaysia through the Malaysia Drug Registration (NPRA Product Registration) [1], the official hypertension management as outlined in the CPG [2], and the MOH's official drug formulary. By examining the consistency and alignment among these three sources, we seek to evaluate the accessibility and availability of essential hypertension medications in Malaysia.

This analysis will not only shed light on the current state of hypertension treatment in the country but also identify potential gaps and areas for improvement to ensure that patients receive the most effective and affordable care possible. The objective of the study is as below:

 Comparing the product registered can help identify gaps or inconsistencies between these sources. By uncovering these disparities, stakeholders can take necessary steps to address these issues and ensure better alignment across the different sources, ultimately improving hypertension management in Malaysia.

Ensuring that the drugs recommended by the CPG are available and accessible to patients is essential for optimal patient care. By analyzing the availability of these drugs in the NPRA product registration and the MOH drug formulary, healthcare providers and policymakers can make more informed decisions about the appropriate medications for hypertension management.

Analyzing the availability of generic drugs in the registered drug and MOH drug formulary can help evaluate the affordability of hypertension treatment options. Identifying and promoting cost-effective treatment options can help reduce the financial burden on patients and the healthcare system.

The first step involves using NER (named entity recognition) knowledge extraction techniques to identify drug names from the clinical practice guidelines. This step is important because it allows for the automatic identification of drugs mentioned in the guidelines, which can then be used for comparison with the registered drugs in Malaysia. The drug name is then classified into drug class and drug name for comparison.

In this step, each drug name or drug class is identified and each mentioned in the CPG guideline is counted. The idea is 

the more frequently the drug is mentioned in CPG, the more emphasize it is in the CPG

The second step involves gathering data from the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) on the drugs that are registered in Malaysia. This dataset will serve as the basis for comparison with the drug names identified from the clinical practice guidelines. This step allows for the identification of any potential matches or discrepancies between the drugs recommended in the guidelines and those that are actually registered in Malaysia.

The next step involves comparing the mentioned drug name to the MOH’s Formulary and the availability is marked in the dataset.

Finally, data mining and report writeup are performed to summarize the findings of the analysis. This includes identifying which drugs were most frequently mentioned in the guidelines, which drugs had the biggest discrepancies between the guidelines and registered drugs, and any potential implications of these findings for patient care and healthcare equity.

Top 5 mentioned Drug Classes in Hypertension Management CPG

Top 5 mentioned Drug Names in Hypertension Management CPG

One interesting finding is that the most mentioned drug in the management of hypertension is Aspirin (an anti-platelet), it is heavily mentioned due to its role in the prevention of cardiovascular events, particularly in high-risk patients with hypertension. There is a special section in the CPG which specially mention the use of aspirin in hypertension management. The rest of the drug falls into the category of most mentioned drug classes.

We further compare the data to generic availability based on the registered drug,

 surprisingly out of 69 drugs mentioned, around 20% of the drugs lack generic alternatives in the country

. The absence of generic versions for a significant portion of recommended drugs can limit the affordability and accessibility of essential hypertension medications for patients, especially those from lower-income backgrounds.

Generic drugs are typically less expensive than their brand-name counterparts, making them a more cost-effective option for managing chronic conditions like hypertension.

The lack of generic alternatives may also strain the healthcare system, as higher drug costs can lead to increased overall healthcare expenditures. This issue highlights the need for policymakers and stakeholders to address the gap in generic drug availability by encouraging the development and registration of generic versions of the recommended drugs.

around 65% of the drugs mentioned in the management of hypertension CPG are available in the national drug formulary.

 It shows positive coverage where a majority of the recommended drugs are included in the national drug formulary. This ensures that many of the evidence-based treatment options for hypertension are accessible.

However, the remaining 35% of the drugs mentioned in the CPG not being available in the national drug formulary indicates that there is still room for improvement. The unavailability of these drugs may limit treatment options for healthcare providers and patients, potentially impacting the management of hypertension.

Since there are disparities between drugs mentioned in CPG and the drug formulary, continuous monitoring and evaluation of the alignment between CPG recommendations and the national drug formulary should be enabled. This can help track progress and measure the impact of any policy changes or interventions aimed at improving the availability of recommended drugs. Lastly, greater transparency in listing decisions could help address these discrepancies and improve alignment between these sources. [4]

Overall, while the availability of 65% of the CPG-recommended drugs in the national drug formulary is a positive sign, the findings suggest that there is still room for improvement to ensure better alignment and access to the most effective hypertension treatments for all patients.

Let’s zoom in on the drugs not registered in Malaysia:

Hypertension Drugs in CPG that are not registered in Malaysia

that are mentioned doesn’t register in Malaysia. To our surprise, Clonidine and Sodium Nitroprusside are not registered in Malaysia but are available as Formulary items.

Out of our curiosity, we go to survey how these medicines can be used either in private or government settings:

1. Use of Unregistered Drugs in Government Settings 

For government health facility setting, it falls to the procedure of applying for approval from the Director-General of Health (KPK) or Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Services Division (PKPF) is required under r.15(6) of Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984

2. Use of Unregistered Drugs in Private Settings

In order for a private hospital to import unregistered drugs the drug must fall into life-saving medicine and the facility has to apply for an import permit via the Pharmaceutical Service Division (PSD) via Form BPF/213-1 

According to our inquiry from a private hospital pharmacist, the cost of the medicine that is imported is more expensive and

after factoring in the shipping cost and currency exchange. Additionally, the import permit took time to be approved and shipping time is counted. These factors greatly increase the burden on the patients.

We do understand that it falls into business consideration whenever it comes to drug availability and drug registration. But upon further reasoning and investigation, we found out that if a local manufacturer or a local importer wants to manufacture or register the drugs in Malaysia, they don’t have easy access to data on the usage, such as, for this case, how many Sodium Nitroprusside had been used in the nation yearly or what are the most frequent applied KPK items. The only 

 is in 2022 when NPRA published the usage and application count for the permit application in the year 2021.

Having access to these data can guide better decision-making for local healthcare entrepreneurs to decide whether to import or manufacture the generic product in Malaysia and with more transparent data, we can provide a better quality of healthcare to Malaysian.

Lastly, some drug recommended in CPG exert their unique therapeutic effects, for example, benazepril [6] shows to improve compliance in the elderly and the combination of benazepril with amlodipine leads to a reduction of cardiovascular events in the overall study population as well as the diabetic subgroup

In conclusion, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of hypertension drug availability and alignment with Malaysian CPG guidelines and the MOH formulary. Our findings reveal that while there is a significant overlap between the CPG-recommended drugs and those available in the national drug formulary, there is still room for improvement to ensure better alignment and access to the most effective hypertension treatments for all patients.


By addressing the identified gaps and inconsistencies between the CPG guidelines, NPRA product registration, and MOH formulary, stakeholders can work together to optimize hypertension management in Malaysia. This, in turn, will contribute to better patient care, cost-effective treatment options, and a more equitable healthcare system for all Malaysians.


If you are interested in the data we compiled, it is 

Garis Panduan Permohonan Memperolehi dan Menggunakan Ubat-ubatan Yang Memerlukan Kelulusan Khas Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan (KPK)

Explain Why Drugs Rejected From Formulary, US Pharma Tell Malaysia

Application To Import/Manufacture Unregistered Products For The Treatment of Life-Threatening Illnesses (Private/Non-MOH Institutions)

Compliance with antihypertensive therapy in the elderly: a comparison of fixed-dose combination amlodipine/benazepril versus component-based free-combination therapy - PubMed

Explore our comprehensive study examining hypertension drug availability and alignment with Malaysian CPG guidelines and the MOH formulary. Learn about the gaps and inconsistencies identified, and how addressing these can improve patient care, cost-effective treatment options, and a more equitable healthcare system for all Malaysians.

Bridging the Gap: Assessing Hypertension Drug Availability and Alignment with Malaysian CPG Guidelines and MOH Formulary

In today's competitive healthcare landscape, the Awesome Pharmacies Alliance (APA) stands out as a shining example of the power of unity and collaboration. In this exclusive interview, we delve into the journey of the APA, exploring their motivation for creating OEM health supplements, the challenges they faced during product development, and their commitment to ensuring product safety and efficacy. Additionally, we discuss the organization's future plans for expanding its product line and goals for fostering a sustainable healthcare ecosystem. Read on to discover valuable advice for those looking to enter the OEM market and learn how newcomers can join the APA in working towards a common goal.

. We are a group of community pharmacies coming together to cooperate, working to ensure that we are sustainable and build a better platform for ourselves.

How do you get into making OEM health supplements?

Basically, the main intention was so that we can have control over our own destinies. Many of us had been frustrated by suppliers changing their terms and conditions whenever they want to. There were also occasions when suppliers refused to supply to us after we had built the market for them. In that case, when customers come back for the product, they would find that they can no longer get it from us, but they can get it from our competitor. Ultimately, it led to us losing our customers.

We were lucky to have a friend who introduced us to OEM. While it may not be the best deal we can ever get, his guidance had been most valuable at the time we know next to nothing about OEM.

Is it hard to develop an OEM product alone as an independent pharmacist?

It definitely needs some reading, researching and work, but I guess if you have the mentality that nothing is hard, then it isn't. I believe if you take the time and prepare for it and make a plan, a lot of the difficulties get taken away. As an example, during your preparation and planning stage, you foresee that you might run into a cash flow problem. As such, you might have come out with some strategies to overcome that problem like creating a budget and making sure that you have sufficient reserve funds just in case something went wrong. Even if something you had not expected goes wrong, it is very important to remain positive and work out a solution. Sometimes, if you had done extensive planning and preparation for a lot of negative possibilities but none of those possibilities came through, it is a good thing as you were aware of those things and made sure it had not come about and it was something you did not expect that became a challenge.

As this question asked about the difficulty of developing a product alone, sometimes it is just that you encounter problems that you are not able to solve by yourself. If that happens, don't be afraid to reach out and seek help. It is likely that someone you know is capable of helping you solve it.

We were not alone when we developed our product. The core group within us had almost always covered each other's backs. Indeed one person did most of the work, reading, planning and so on. It may be a blessing though because the more people involved in the decision-making process, the more complicated and possibly longer it takes. However, the roles of the others who supported the effort in one way or another cannot be underestimated.

Any challenges faced during the development process?

I believe there are too many challenges to cover in detail in one article. I would just list it briefly and if readers are interested, I will cover it in more detail in the future.

1. Identifying and understanding the target market.

The first thing you need to do is to identify a market which is big enough so that you will be able to make some money while helping these people. Identifying the target market is important so that you can look into their problem, identify the root cause of their problem and then the ingredient(s) necessary to help them.

2. Identifying what ingredients will help the target market

After understanding the pathophysiology of the target market, you will most likely be able to know what ingredients will be able to help these people and understand the mechanism behind it. In a way, it is like prescribing ingredients.

3. Formulating the active ingredient(s) into a consumable dosage form

Once you have got a list of ingredients you are happy with, you will need to formulate them into something that is palatable and can be easily consumed. It is a lot like formulating medicine. You have to think of keeping the ingredients stable, making sure they are released at the desired time, the taste is pleasant and so on.

4. Planning and building the distribution system.

A product, no matter how good it is, is not going to be of any use if it cannot get to the people who need it. You will need to identify and convince the people who you want to distribute the product to do it for you. After that, you will need to take care of your distribution system so that the pipeline continues to deliver your goods to the consumers.

After all the hard work had been done, you would want to work on a way to preserve what you had built, making sure everything runs smoothly.

How to ensure the safety and efficiency of the product?

As above, there are many ways to ensure the quality and efficiency of the products and I would just list them down briefly:

In this era, there is a lot of information available through the internet. As such, you must be able to differentiate reliable information so that you can choose the best ingredients for your target market. By learning about the target market's condition and pathophysiology, you will understand the mechanism by which each ingredient helps these people. Only by giving these people what they need will their condition improve and only by understanding what they need will you be able to produce a product that has the ingredients needed.

2. Look for a reliable manufacturer or supplier

After knowing what you need for your product(s), you will need to find reliable people to help you source good quality ingredients and put them together into a stable and consumable product.

Retailers' roles are also important in making sure that consumers know how to use their products to improve their conditions. Even if it is a good product, if it is not used properly, it may not be effective or it may be less effective than it would have been if used correctly. Retailers will also help consumers monitor their progress and to provide follow-up and assistance if things do not go according to plan.

4. Don't be afraid to change for the better

Remember you would want your product to be effective so that customers would come back to buy more. Always be accepting of constructive criticism and be on the lookout to improve your product.

The thing you need to always keep in mind is that your effort shows in the product you produced. The more effort you put into it, the more effective and competitive it will be.

Any plan for developing new products or expanding your product line?

Yes, we have. In fact, we had adopted three principles to evaluate the viability of our future products which we named the ACE principles, as below:

We believe a product needs to be affordable so that it can help as many people as possible. What is the point if people who need the product cannot afford it?

We believe a product needs to be able to compete in the market in order to be sustainable for a long period of time. If it is not competitive, it may either not be able to break into the market or even if it does, it will have a hard time sustaining itself.

Lastly, if the product is not effective, consumers will not come back to purchase it.

If the product has these 3 principles, we can expect returning customers. As such, retailers will have sustained revenue and will have confidence in recommending the product. When this happens, we have a sustainable business model that benefits the whole distribution chain and the consumers as well.

Any challenges you anticipate in the future?

There had been a lot of changes in the healthcare industry lately so much so that community pharmacy practice or even medical practice may not be sustainable in the near future. Definitely, something needs to be done to ensure we have a healthy and sustainable healthcare system. It will take time and there is a lot of work to be done. However, none of this can be achieved without unity, not just within the pharmacy profession but beyond it as well.

Our immediate goal is to unite like-minded health professionals to work together towards a common goal that not only benefits community pharmacists but everybody in the healthcare system as well.

Lastly, what advice would you give to people who want to start their own OEM?

I guess in a way, all the above is advice, but perhaps I list down what I believe is most important that you should consider:

1. Learn everything you can about the product, the market, and so on. This will significantly improve your chance of success. Do your research on the internet. Talk to people who had done it before. If possible, get a mentor.

2. Don't just focus on getting the product into the market. I believe that is the easy part. The hard part is making sure the product is capable of staying in the market and that you are capable of sustaining it in the market.

3. Don't focus solely on the product. Take some time to look at your potential customers, the market, your competitor, your supplier and so on.

4. Lastly, come talk to us. We may have a market for you or be able to help you support the market.

How can a new Independent Pharmacy join APA?

We have criteria to accept new members. Basically, one needs to be willing to work together towards a common objective. As such, we don't mind if the interested party is a new IP or someone who had been in the business for years.

The way we see it, there is no point in joining an alliance, if it does not in any way makes you better. On the other hand, the collective is only better if its members (the more, the better) contribute towards making it better. A chicken and egg question indeed, but for us, it is better to just start rather than to ponder on that question. Basically, the stronger we are, the stronger you will be and the stronger we are, the stronger we will be. So, if you are interested, no matter how small you may think you are, let us know. Let's work together.

This article explores the journey of the Awesome Pharmacies Alliance (APA), a group of independent pharmacies that came together to create OEM health supplements. It discusses the challenges they faced during product development, their commitment to product safety and efficacy, and their plans for expanding their product line. The article also offers advice for those looking to enter the OEM market and information on how to join the APA.

[Interview] Navigating the OEM Health Supplement Journey: Lessons and Experiences Shared by Independent Pharmacies 

The health supplement market is growing in Malaysia has been growing in recent years, driven by the increasing awareness of personal health and well-being among consumers. According to MADSA (KOE 2021), the market size of the Malaysian health supplement reached RM 2.1 billion to RM 2.2 billion in 2020 and the trend is estimated to continue growing in the coming years.

To have a better understanding of the market trends and the products that are popular among consumers, this article examines health supplement product registration in the year 2022 according to the 

National Pharmaceutical Regulation Agency

 (NPRA) registry. Each health supplement product has to be registered before it can reach the consumer in the Malaysian market, so from this upstream information, we will be able to know what happened in the year 2022 such as the trend and products that are most registered in the year 2022. At the time of writing, there are a total of 

types of health supplement products registered in Malaysia

The number of health supplement products registered in 2022 continues to break the record of the number of products registered in a year, 

from 445 types of products in the year 2021 to 

types of products registered in 2022. This trend indicates that more and more consumers are looking to use health supplements to improve their overall health and wellness.

So, What is the trend of health supplement registration in Malaysia in the year 2022?

The originality of registered health supplement in 2022

Out of 527 supplements registered in the year 2022, 322 (61%) health supplement product types manufactured are located in Malaysia while the rest are imported products. US supplement products are the highest imported products (20%) in the newly registered health supplement. The table below shows the top 10 country and their top active ingredient in the imported products:


Out of curiosity, we further explore who is the biggest importer of products from the united states, and surprisingly it was mainly from 2 product registration holders where LAC GLOBAL BRANDS (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD. is a brand holder and Esprit Care Sdn. Bhd. is an OEM manufacturer.

There are roughly 346 active ingredients in the health supplement products registered in 2022 as compared to 333 active ingredients registered in 2021 (4% increase).


From the top 10 ingredients, we can see there is a bloom of active ingredient containing SACHA_INCHI_SEED_OIL which claim to have good control of cholesterol. After a deeper look into google Trends, we will notice that the interest in sacha inchi oil raised during April 2021 and remained at the same interest level until 2023.

So another question comes to my mind is, what are other active ingredients that have increased in the number of registration in 2022 as compared to 2021 (a.k.a trending product)?

A few of the prominent active ingredients that are worth mentioning are 

PLUKENETIA VOLUBILIS SACHA INCHI SEED OIL 

We drive further to see which type of active ingredient is newly registered in the database by comparing the active ingredient registered in 2022 that doesn’t appear in 2021:

Top 10 health supplement manufacturers in the year 2022


From the top manufacturer, Malaysian really prefer health supplement manufacture in the united stated, 4 out of 10 of the top manufacturer is from the US

Top 10 health supplement product registration holders in the year 2022


In the chart, we had seen the top health supplement product registration holder in the year 2022 is Lac Global Brands, which might be due to the takeover of GNC products in Malaysia.


From the top 10 product registration holder in 2022, the amount of brand holder seems to be rising as compared to our finding in 2019 where most product is registered by OEM company. This could be a result of increasing competition in the market, as well as consumers becoming more aware of the importance of knowing the source of their products.

In conclusion, the health supplement market in Malaysia continues to grow, with a record number of products registered in 2022. The majority of these products are manufactured in Malaysia, with the United States being the highest imported country. This suggests that consumers in Malaysia are becoming more aware of the importance of personal health and well-being and are looking for products that can help them maintain a healthy lifestyle. The health supplement industry in Malaysia is expected to continue growing in the coming years, with more products and active ingredients being introduced to the local market.


We hope that this finding can help you understand the health supplement product in 2022 better and thank you for reading.

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AIPharm.xyz works hard to ensure that we deliver a high-quality data-driven article for our pharmaceutical industry. If you want to work together with us, please contact us at thedatawayschannel@gmail.com! TnC applies.

The data used in this article is obtained from NPRA Malaysia

All statements in the research are purely represented by our interest only

E-commerce complaints: Malaysian industry calls for clampdown on ‘unauthorised’ online sales (nutraingredients-asia.com)

Dietary Supplements in the Malaysian Context: Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Freedom of Choice and Healthcare Saving

Discover the latest trend in Malaysia health supplement market by analysis the entire product registration list in Malaysia. Data are taken from NPRA product registration data and we extract and analyse the insight from the data to make it easier for you to visualize the situation and make decision easily

The 2022 New Health Supplement Products Analysis

In this research, we are interested in visualizing the distribution of Malaysia-registered Dentists and Dental clinics in Malaysia. We will explore the dentist industry from 3 perspectives which are:

Private and Government Dental Industry in Malaysia

The data we used is the published data by the Malaysia Dental Council (MDC) in 

 dated November 2022. These data include the Date of Registration, Practising Address, Qualification and Category of Service submitted by the registered dentist to MDC.

*As for clarification of the research, the date of registration mentioned in this article is the date the dental houseman registered as a licensed dentist in Malaysia.

Overview of Registered Dentists in Malaysia

To date, there are 13,252 registered dentists in Malaysia. 7,692 (58%) dentists service in Government Sector and 5,560 (42%) dentists services in Private Sector. Dentists' services in the Government sector are mainly in Hospitals, Universities, Government Dental Clinics and State/National Health departments whereas dentists' services in the Private sector mainly distribute in Private Dental clinics, Private Universities and Private hospitals.

*Due to the time of this research, the number of dentists registered in 2022 might be incomplete yet (Up till November 2022).

Zooming into the registration of dentists in Malaysia. The number of dentists registered in Malaysia had dropped from its peaked in 2017. The average number of dentists produced dropped to below 1,000 per year.

As current, the ratio of dentists to the population of Malaysia is 1: 2464 people in Malaysia (1:2180 in Penisular Malaysia and 1:4917 in Borneo) which is a tremendous drop from what was mentioned in 

. This might be due to the article referring to the

Due to the increase in the registration of Dentists in the past 10 years, we can observe a significant amount of dentists with less than 10 years of experience in Malaysia. For the next 10 years, our nation will be filled with lots of skilled dentists as compared to the younger dentists if the rate of dentist registration is slowed down. (a similar situation we called as 

We further drive by comparing years of practice for dentists in the government sector with the dentist in the private sector, it is found that the dentist with experience of more than 5 years started to flow into the private sector which might be due to the policy implemented during peak dental registration. Another point to take note of is that private dentists with more than 15 years of experience are more than government dentists, it can be due to the dentist continuing their practice in private after their retirement age.

The next question of this research is which state in Malaysia has the most dentist and dental clinics. Klang valley - Selangor (2,811) and WP Kuala Lumpur (1,776) have the most registered dentist followed by Johor (1,333) and Perak (871) which roughly reflect by the dental to-population ratio in the state. One notable shortage is in the number of Dentists in Sabah (692) and Sarawak (674), it is much lower in terms of dentists to population.


Sabah (1:5538) and Sarawak (1:4365) have the highest dentist-to-population ratio as compared to WP Kuala Lumpur (1:983). The highest dentist-to-population ratio in Penisular Malaysia is Kedah (1:3102). Surprisingly the dentist-to-Population ratio in Selangor (1:2331) doesn't as low as expected and the dentist-to-population of 

If we categorized dentists in each state by their service category, it is found that only Selangor (1878 vs 933) and WP Kuala Lumpur (950 vs 826) have more private dentists than government dentists whereas Johor (655 vs 678) and Pulau Pinang (375 vs 425) have almost equal amounts of dentists in private and government sectors. The rest of the state have much lesser private dentist than the government sector.

When doing this research, we found out that dentists like to brand themself as dental groups, where multiple dentists form an alliance to become stronger by sharing their resources and expertise. It attracted us to further drive into these dental groups and see which dental group is dominating the industry or the healthiness of the industry.

To date, there are approximately 2,200 private dental brands in Malaysia which consist of personal dental clinics, dental groups, and hospitals. If we observe from the number of dentists practising in the dental group, Klinik Pergigian Drs. Wong and Partner (94 dentists) is the largest dental brand in Malaysia (excluding other brands in the 

 group) followed by Klinik Pergigian Tiew (73 dentists) and Q&M group (58 dentists). 

From here we noticed that the dental groups are polarized where there are 3-4 brands having a significantly higher number of dentists in their group while other smaller groups have 10-20 dentists in their groups. The majority of dentists still not forming alliances or forming very small groups with less than 5 dentists.

Going to premise analysis, the majority of the Dental brand is still below 5 premises where the dentist alone is working on his own or with few friends, there are only 5 dental groups with more than 30 premises which forms a polarizing effect in the dental industry.  Overall, there are still a lot of independent dental clinics in Malaysia and the domination of chain dental groups still doesn't affect much on individual dental clinics.

From the research, we see there is a major outflow of dentists to the private industry in recent years due to the increased supply of dentists in the industry since the 

 in the year 2013.  We observe good control of dental registration since 2020 which contributes to the healthy growth of the industry. 

a snapshot overview of Malaysia Dentist industry at the year 2022. Data taken from MDC website.

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