She said the company had given a commitment that its subsidiary Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd would continue to supply more than 700 drugs and other products and that the subsidiary would “continue to be strong and competitive”.

Pharmaniaga Logistics is the concessionaire appointed by the government to supply drugs and other products.

Zaliha said the Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries and the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA) had also given their assurance that they would cooperate to ensure that supplies will not be affected.

The two organisations had held a meeting with Pharmaniaga today, which was chaired by the ministry’s deputy secretary-general of finance Norazman Ayob.

Zaliha said Pharmaniaga provided an update on the group’s current situation as well as the delay in payments to its vendor.

PhAMA president Kam Ai Teng said they were assured that the current delay in payments will be resolved by the end of April.

The ministry and Pharmaniaga agreed to resolve long-standing problems with tenders for approved products, Kam said.
“The ministry also agreed to include pharmaceutical industry players in the concessionaire committee to resolve issues that can impact the supply of medicines.”

Last month, the stock exchange classified Pharmaniaga as a PN17 company, denoting it is undergoing financial distress. The company posted a net loss of RM664.39 million in the fourth quarter of its 2022 financial year, and had to make provisions for the amount of RM552.3 million on unsold Covid-19 vaccines in stock.

Last week, the pharmaceutical association’s executive director Chan Li Jin said Pharmaniaga’s financial situation had created unease over its ability to pay pharmaceutical companies for their medicines.

Yesterday, Pharmaniaga assured its suppliers that unexpected delays in payments will be resolved soon.