Page 5 - Malaysian Dietary Supplement Industry Status and Outlook Report 2019-2020 Preview

Foreword

Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Ministry of Health Malaysia

There are significant challenges around the regulation of health
supplements. These include the lack of global consensus and uniformity
on how the category of products known variously as health supplements,
dietary supplements, natural health products, complementary medicines
or food supplements are defined in different countries. A product which is
considered a health supplement and regulated as such in Malaysia, is
considered as a food supplement/dietary supplement/complementary

medicine or potentially even a controlled substance elsewhere. Moreover, it cannot be
helped that many regulatory frameworks are constantly changing from time to time, which
may add further challenges in many years to come.

The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) is a regulatory centre for health
supplements in Malaysia. With strong pre-marketing regulation and post-marketing
surveillance requirements, we ensure the safety and quality of registered health
supplements in Malaysia. With the ever-growing health supplement industry and market
competition, there is always a need for companies to strengthen the commercial value of

their products. In recognizing these challenges, health supplements in Malaysia can be
registered with health claims, which are general, functional and disease-risk reduction
claims. Our role is to ensure that the health claim is scientifically proven and well-
documented. As evidence-based and clinically proven products is the way forward for health
supplements, we hope that there will be more initiatives in conducting research on the
products and their active constituents.

We also work closely with other ASEAN regulatory authorities in Product Working Group for
Traditional Medicines and Health Supplements (TMHSPWG) to enhance standards and
quality of health supplement products in ASEAN. Across the world, NPRA aspires to bring
about the integration of the health supplement sector through the harmonization of

technical requirements in the ASEAN region. We believe that these guidelines will not only
make headway in minimizing technical barriers to trade, but will also contribute
progressively to the public health protection in ensuring better quality health supplement
products in the ASEAN region. We will continue to grow and establish a sense of guidance
and strategic collaboration between ASEAN regulatory authorities to overcome these
challenges.

Dr. Ramli bin Zainal

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