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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd has
withdrawn his support for the inclusion of a “generics-only”
provision in the proposed Quality Affordable Medicine Bill, raising
expectations that the deadlock in the bicameral conference committee
will be broken.
Sen. Mar Roxas 2nd, author of the Senate
version, said the House panel had been citing Duque’s endorsement
of the “generics-only” provision in the measure as the main
reason for pushing for its inclusion in the proposed law.
He said the bicameral conference had already
reconciled “99 percent” of the House and Senate versions, and it
is only the provision on generics that remains unresolved. The
“generics-only” provision prohibits doctors from writing branded
medicines’ names in their prescriptions.
Duque told Roxas that he had already written a
letter to the House panel stating that while he believed in the need
for a “generics only” provision, it could be tackled later in a
separate bill.
The two chambers are now discussing the
“generics-only” proposal. The Senate, while agreeing in
principle, also wants to ensure the safety of patients.
Roxas, co-chairman of the bicameral conference
committee on the medicines bill, said he is in constant and informal
discussions with his counterparts from the House, led by Palawan
Rep. Antonio Alvarez and other key advocates of the bill in the
Lower Chamber.
“We agree that prices of medicines will be
lowered by increasing competition locally—by bringing in more
affordable drugs from abroad and by easing the present patent
restrictions for generics manufacturers,” Roxas said.
“I have also already instructed a technical
working group composed of House and Senate staff to go ahead with
working on the details of our bill, so that hopefully, we will
breeze through our next formal bicam meeting,” he added.
Roxas said the bicameral committee members agree
that in the event of a failure by the competitive regime to bring
down prices, the President can intervene and set prices.
Among the bill’s provisions are: amendments to
the Intellectual Property Code to allow parallel importation and to
aid generics manufacturers; a price regulatory mechanism giving the
President power to set prices upon recommendation of the Health
secretary; a “must-carry” provision; and strengthening the
Bureau of Food and Drugs by allowing it to retain its income, among
others.
Roxas said the congressional recess will be used
to fine-tune the medicines bill in order to facilitate its approval
once session resumes on April 20.
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