Drug prices accelerate sharply, rising twice as fast as previously
KUCHING: Prices of medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations rose 4.5 per cent in 2025, more than double the 2.2 per cent increase recorded a year earlier.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), in its Annual Health Price Index 2025 report, said herbal medicines and homeopathic products recorded a similar increase of 4.5 per cent, up sharply from 0.7 per cent in 2024.
Health supplements, however, saw slower price growth of 1.1 per cent compared with 2.6 per cent previously.
“Overall, inflation for the medicine category increased to 2.8 per cent in 2025 from 2.2 per cent in 2024.”
Medicines accounted for 38.9 per cent of the Health Price Index (HPI) basket, the largest share among its three main categories.
Within the category, health supplements carried the highest weight at 20.3 per cent of the overall basket, followed by medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations at 13.4 per cent and herbal medicines and homeopathic products at 5.2 per cent.
The HPI measures changes in prices of healthcare goods and services purchased by households, with each category weighted according to its share of spending.
DOSM said inflation for medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations had reached 5.1 per cent in 2023 before easing to 2.2 per cent in 2024 and rising again last year.
Herbal medicines and homeopathic products followed a similar pattern, with price growth slowing from 1.2 per cent in 2023 to 0.7 per cent in 2024 before accelerating to 4.5 per cent in 2025.
Health supplements recorded inflation of 1.9 per cent in 2023, followed by 2.6 per cent in 2024 and 1.1 per cent last year.
Overall, prices across the medicine category were 8.1 per cent higher than in 2022, the base year for the index.
“Among the three medicine groups, medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical preparations recorded the largest cumulative price increase at 12.2 per cent over the same period.
“This was followed by herbal medicines and homeopathic products at 6.5 per cent and health supplements at 5.8 per cent.”
