OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to examine the potential barriers to new drug accessibility by exploring factors associated with the marketing lag and reimbursement lag, and comparing Taiwan’s approval lag with selected countries. METHODS: This study focused on new drugs reviewed by Taiwan’s NHI Drug Review Committee (DRC) from March, 2001 to December, 2012. Linear regression was adopted to estimate factors associated with the marketing lag. A two-part model was employed to estimate factors associated with where a new drug was reimbursed by NHI and its reimbursement lag. RESULTS: We found that for new drugs in Taiwan, the median of marketing lag was 26.84 month while the median of reimbursement lag was 11.83 months. About 84% of new drugs were reimbursed by NHI. The reimbursement decision were mainly associated with the characteristics of medications, including their types of therapy and innovation categories. The price-related factors were significantly related with the reimbursement lag but not whether medications were reimbursed. CONCLUSIONS: By examining the barriers at different stages from drug approval to NHI reimbursed, this study provided different perspectives for health policy makers to examine issues on drug approval, health care resource allocation, and quality of medical care.