Malaysia ranks 1st in Southeast Asia for Country Readiness in Global Clinical Trials

Malaysia is among the Top 30 in the world and leading in Southeast Asia in terms of country readiness for global clinical trials, according to the IQVIA report on Rethinking Clinical Trial Country Prioritization .

The report, which was published earlier this month, had mapped global clinical trial opportunities according to country attributes, factoring 17 key metrics relevant to operational infrastructure, clinical infrastructure as well as patient availability. Key considerations include healthcare accessibility and quality, clinical trial efficiency, regulatory capabilities, streamlined business processes and investment opportunities.

The report also provided insights on country readiness across different clinical trial categories and has Malaysia recognised among the Top 25 countries for three out of the four clinical trial types indicated. Indonesia is the only other Southeast Asia country in this list, having been listed under one of the trial categories. In addition, several Southeast Asia countries were heavily represented in the opportunity tier of country selection by trial sponsors, with Malaysia in the optimised spot of having the balance between patient availability and operational readiness.  

Global clinical trials are usually multinational trials that are wholly sponsored by pharmaceutical organisations, biotech companies as well as medical devices companies. The Southeast Asia region collectively conduct 3% of these global clinical trials. Since 2023, Malaysia has been leading in number of trials conducted within the region, with many of these in the space of oncology, infectious diseases and cardiology trials. With over 2450 clinical trials since 2012, the country has observed the gathered Gross National Income of RM 1.38 billion from this industry.

The growth has also seen many major pharmaceutical organisations and contract research organisations expanding their presence in Malaysia and recruiting talents to meet the demand of clinical trial productivity. In addition, hospitals and medical centres are focusing on enhancing clinical research capabilities, requiring personnel with clinical research experience to manage the conduct of trials in accordance with regulatory requirements and global practice.

Following this, Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM), a one-stop centre for sponsored clinical research in Malaysia, has established the CRM Centre of Excellence (COE) which was recently officiated by the Minister of Health and Chairman of CRM, YB Datuk Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. This program is aimed at developing local talents and providing them a foundation to kickstart their career in clinical research. The COE also propels CRM’s Mission 2033 to develop clinical research professionals in the country by creating 4000 skilled jobs in clinical research.