U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 200% tariff on imported drugs, allowing the industry a one-year grace period to relocate production lines to the United States. In response, Taiwan’s two major export-focused pharmaceutical companies, Bora Pharmaceuticals and Lotus Pharmaceutical, recently confirmed they have increased the proportion of drug production on their U.S. manufacturing lines.

Regarding generic drugs, Standard Chemical & Pharmaceutical Chairman FAN, Tzu-Ting stated that Trump’s drug pricing policies primarily threaten high-priced drugs and have minimal impact on most Taiwanese generic drug manufacturers.

Lotus Pharmaceutical’s Deputy General Manager Bjartur Shen explained that the company had pre-stocked its leukemia drug Lenalidomide in U.S. warehouses starting April, securing inventory through 2026. This preemptive move will not affect this year’s revenue but will alter revenue recognition patterns, with higher revenue recorded in the first month of each quarter.

Shen also noted that Lotus Pharmaceutical might consider contract manufacturing (CMO) through its affiliated company, Avigen, in the U.S. Regarding the recently rumored “Most Favored Nation” drug pricing policy, Lotus estimates it will significantly affect branded drugs, which account for about 90% of market value but only around 10% of market volume. Therefore, the negative impact on Lotus is expected to be very limited.

Bora Pharmaceuticals recently stated that it is actively expanding its U.S. production line capacity. The company’s forward-looking investment in U.S. CDMO capacity in 2024 has already proven beneficial amid tariff pressures and global geopolitical shifts. Bora is gradually strengthening its U.S. CDMO business and optimizing its product portfolio by shifting its U.S. drug sales focus toward specialized, niche therapies, while withdrawing underperforming U.S. generic drugs subject to heavy price pressures.

In addition, PharmaEssentia commented that the U.S. government’s recently announced “reciprocal tariff” policy clearly exempts the customs import tariff codes (HTS Codes) applicable to PharmaEssentia’s drugs exported to the United States.

PharmaEssentia stated that its self-developed long-acting interferon biosubstance, Ropeg, is manufactured at its Taichung facility. The product is then filled and packaged as an injectable drug product at Pyramid Laboratories Inc. in Southern California. The drug is marketed in the U.S. by PharmaEssentia’s American subsidiary, fully complying with U.S. standards and regulatory requirements.

Resource: 進口藥課200%關稅 保瑞、美時衝美國製造