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AFTER much intense lobbying by the local drug industry that is
dominated by multinationals, Congress has finally passed what is
commonly called the Cheaper Medicines Act or the “Act To Provide
For Quality Affordable Medicines.”
It is a tribute to Congress that once in a
while, it is capable of summoning its political will, setting aside
its greed, and doing something for the benefit of the people. In the
Senate, the three committees that handled the bill, Finance under
Juan Ponce Enrile, Health under Pia Cayetano, and Trade and Commerce
under Mar Roxas, unanimously endorsed the bill. In the House, 11 of
the 12 members of its bicam contingent approved the bill.
Drugs are P100 billion business. The biggest is
retailer and generics giant Mercury Drug with P58.5 billion sales
and P1.49 billion profits in 2006, followed by Zuellig Pharma with
P46.45 billion sales and P437.89 billion net, and United Lab with
P21.98 billion sales and P1.66 billion net. They are among the 40
largest companies in the country.
Deaths arising from diseases keep rising each
year. The eight leading causes of deaths are heart stroke, cancer,
accidents, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diabetes mellitus, and chronic
lower respiratory diseases. For these deadly causes, the medicines
are usually very expensive so that in many cases, it is cheaper to
die than to be given the medicine over an extended period.
Since the prohibitively priced medicines are
made by the multinational drug companies, you can argue without much
fear of contradiction that the drug MNCs are killer companies.
Senator Roxas sent me an e-mail explaining the
significance of the Cheaper Medicines Law. He cites its seven main
benefits:
1. It provides for increased competition. And
increased competition tends to bring down prices and promote better
quality medicines. If a particular medicine is sold in another
country at a more affordable price, the law allows clearly and
straightforwardly the importation of the same so that competition is
introduced domestically. Did you know that drug companies sued the
Philippine government for importing cheaper medicines?
2. It amends the Intellectual Property Code to
disallow the “evergreening” of drugs by disallowing patents
that simply discover new uses without altering significantly the
drug through the introduction of new ingredient. Thus, if a drug
that used to be in a blue capsule becomes green or is added a
sweetener, that is not a new drug and thus is not entitled to an
extension of patent by another 20 years.
3. It amends the Intellectual Property Code by
allowing parallel importation of drugs whose patents have expired in
other countries. If a drug’s patent has expired in one country,
the Philippines will recognize the expiration even if the drug has
just been registered for a 20-year patent in Manila.
4. It helps the local generics drug industry by
allowing them “early working” meaning, before the expiry of the
patent. The local generics industry can already begin their
preparations, their experimentation and their testing so that they
can have a ready competing product on the day of patent expiry.
“This will help our local generics industry
provide increased competition by helping them have competing
products earlier,” says Mar.
5. It strengthens the Bureau of Food and Drug (BFAD)
by allowing it to keep its income, so that BFAD can process
applications for introduction of competing products and other new
medicines in a much more timely fashion.
6. It has a nondiscriminatory clause which
mandates that all drugstores carry competing drug products, so that
in fact, they will not be intimidated by the large multinational
pharmaceutical companies to not carry competing products in their
inventory.
7. It provides for price monitoring and control
mechanism for maximum prices for medicines, as recommended by the
secretary of Health and as approved by the President of the
Republic. It also provides for the penalties if these maximum prices
are not observed.
With these salient features, Roxas says, “We
are hopeful that this will lead towards a lowering of prices of
medicine. This is not the be-all and end-all towards providing
people affordable quality medicines and health care, but certainly
this is an important first step. “
Mar adds the law “will be a major step towards
providing affordable quality health care for all.”
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