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Taiwan’s drug manufacturing sector is small in scale, segmented, and subject to relatively stringent manufacturing regulations from GMP, cGMP to PIC/S GMP based on the idea of drug use safety by the government. The implementation of these regulations has led manufacturers to shut down their factories, or gave manufacturers hard time even they passed the scrutiny of the government, making the whole sector even smaller. The aim of this study is therefore to explore the problems associated with the implementation of the regulation, particularly how differently manufacturers and the government interpret the regulations. I focus on the implementation of a recently launched regulation, PIC/S GMP, and use the interview and case study as research methods to uncover the realities behind the scenes. By interviewing several governmental and industrial experts and investigating one manufacturer who succeeds in getting the certification, this study found three factors that hinder the implementation of the regulation: shortage of qualified manpower, inflexibility in interpreting the regulation, and dysfunction of industry consortium. To overcome these hindrances, manufacturers have to strengthen employee training and improve the communication with the government. These findings are suggestive for manufacturers to solve their problems, reach a win-win situation with government as well as secure customers the provision of good quality drugs. |