New Frontiers in Halal Pharmaceuticals

It has been 20 years since the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) issued the first Halal certification to health supplements manufactured by CCM. Many innovative halal medicines were produced locally, since. However, halal medicines do not get much attention from the market, except by the Ministry of Defence, despite Malaysia being the world champion on the Global Islamic Economy Indicator for 5 consecutive years. Malaysia leads through its robust, comprehensive halal standards and extensive halal ecosystem. Muslims, in general, are unaware of Malaysia's halal achievement and hardly create demand for halal medicines. Studies also show a significant occurrence of medicine errors, while 50% of patients deliberately did not take their medicines. Medicine prescribing practice should be revamped using alternative perspectives to improve compliance and prevent unnecessary medication errors, namely personalized or individualized medicine, ethnocentricity, halalopathy, Muslim friendly hospitality, and Syariah compliant pharmacy practice. Healthcare practitioners and patients must enhance their Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards halal medicines. Religious beliefs, sentiments or ethnocentricity have formed the Social Norms and Values that play a vital role in the decision-making process of medicine-taking. Healthcare practitioners should empower patients to choose their ethnocentric medicines, thus improving their compliance, enhancing their therapeutic outcome, and also reducing unnecessary medicine errors.