OBJECTIVES: The lack of data has presented a challenge to perform pharmacoeconomic research in  Asia. However, efforts have been made to make cost data available and this study presents newly available data from clinical costing databases in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The objective is to determine the length of stay and treatment cost per episode of acute myocardial infarction (MI).  METHODS: Costs were estimated by the UNU-Casemix Group (UNU-CBG) system, a top-down costing system developed by the United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health and the National University of Malaysia. The above costing system was used in the countries included in this study. An episode of inpatient care for any condition was defined as all treatments provided by the hospital from the time of admission until discharge. Length of stay and cost per acute episode of MI were identified for analysis. Local currency costs were converted to 2012 US$.  RESULTS: The average length of stay for a mild, moderate and severe episode of acute MI in Indonesia was 6.0, 8.3 and 13.8 days respectively, compared to 5.8, 7.5 and 9.2 days in Malaysia and 4.5, 7.1 and 10.2 days in the Philippines. The average cost of mild, moderate and severe acute MI in these countries were US $1075, US $1698 and US $2450 in Indonesia, US $1264, US $1616 and US $1999 in Malaysia, and US $1220, US $1927 and US $2779 in the Philippines.   CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that length of stay and treatment cost for an episode of acute MI varied between countries and increased with clinical severity. Differences may be due to factors such as health systems and reimbursement mechanisms. In addition, we found that the available cost data is useful for analysis of health care costs in South East Asia.