September 27, 2006 · Posted in: i Report Features, Public Health
New Rx needed for generics movement
IN the last feature of our i Report series on health, we take a look at what has happened with Republic Act No. 6675 since it was passed in 1988. Hailed as a landmark piece of legislation almost two decades ago, R. A. 6675 — more popularly known as the generics law — has unfortunately suffered from years of lax implementation, rendering it yet unable to achieve some of its primary objectives.
While many Filipinos for instance now know the generic names of popular branded over-the-counter medicines, such as Tylenol or Biogesic (paracetamol) and Ponstan (mefenemic acid), they are still bypassing generics and buying branded drugs. But because branded drugs remain priced out of reach of most Filipinos, this has meant that many ill people are either doing without drugs altogether or buying quantities that fall short of what they should be taking.
The irony is that doctors — who had been identified as the frontliners in the generics campaign — are largely behind the public’s insistence on branded medicine, a situation in which they are aided by multinational drug companies.
Read on at pcij.org.
8 Responses to New Rx needed for generics movement
naykika
September 29th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
by-pas the doctors; go right to the pharmacist. that’s what generic drug makers did here in ontario. to encourage pharmacists to dispense generics instead of branded drugs, the offer commissions or rebates to pharmacist, unless of course Physycians specify brand names. Usually, physycians prescribe chemical names, but as longs as patients and their extended health insurance permits, pharmacists have a choice. both have the same quality anyways.
Rizalist
September 30th, 2006 at 5:59 am
Alecks,
I think what PCIJ still does not understand–or appreciate–is the global system of patents and copyrights that is responsible for, and will continue to be essential to the advance of pharmaceutics and medicine in general.
There would be NO “generic” drugs at all (except maybe for aspirin which is ancient and has been in the public domain for millennia) if you guys had your way, where for example, doctors would no longer be allowed to prescribe “branded” drugs as stated in the PCIJ article. This suggestion of course is a Cuban fantasy and completely misunderstands how science and technology actually work. It’s the goose that lays the golden eggs, get it? You can’t kill it and think the eggs will still be laid. If you don’t finaloly get this, you will keep writing senseless, naive articles like this one
The reason we have no generic drug industry is surely caused, at least in part by the desire of the branded companies for us not to have one. And they have surely done everything to prevent it. But WE are the bigger cause of our failure by not figuring out how to work the system to our advantage — as India, Japan and many others have done — instead of trying to abolish it.
It is not “lax implementation” of the generics law tht was the problem, it was that Filipinos just refuse to get it, even their investigative journalists.
Rizalist
September 30th, 2006 at 6:22 am
I think a big reason for a lack of choice in what drugs are available to the public is the virtual monopoly that Mercury Drugs has in the retail arena, where its share is virtually the only one that can even be counted. Thus, whoever controls Mercury pretty much controls the market.
Tell you what: let WALGREENS or LONGS DRUGS in here by amending that nationalist provision in the Constitution and I GUARANTEE you the prices of drugs will be “world market price” (though not world pirate price).
Competition at all levels of the production-distribution chain is the key, because competition is also what sustains patents and copyrights which gives people and companies something to produce and distribute. Without the inventors, we are back in the Tabon Caves.
Only Filipino entrepreneurs can make the generic drugs industry a reality. NOT the Philippine Government (even under the CPP NPA, or especially under them).
There is no reason we cannot produce insulin or many heart medicines, right now. But we don’t because we are too dense to see what is good for us. And economic protection has only been a crutch that has occluded that difficult vision.
Socialism doesn’t work and that is not the fault of capitalism.
PCIJ: Keep up the good work, but get some new IDEAS for chrissakes!
Alecks Pabico
September 30th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Rizalist,
Patents are not the only factor affecting the price of medicines in the country. That’s why I decided to reserve a discussion on the issue of patents in pharmaceutical products for a later report.
But to answer your claims, Irineo Galicia, deputy director of the Intllectual Property Office, whom I interviewed on the matter, does admit that to an extent that a patent gives a monopoly to a patent right owner, it gives him/her some leeway in dictating the price of a patented medicine.
Your assertion that we should exploit the patent regime to our advantage will only work if our patent law is not so skewed against us in the first place. Guess who lobbied to ensure that?
Supposedly, there should be no problem to manufacture a generic equivalent of an invented pharmaceutical product that used to be covered by a patent when the said patent — granted for a fixed period of 20 years — expires.
In reality, however, it takes quite a while before a drug company can get the marketing authorization from BFAD, the drug regulatory authority. Technically, if a patent expires, that’s the only time that a generic manufacturer can start doing research or conduct its own tests to come up with a generic equivalent. That process takes from anywhere between 18 to 24 months at least.
In other jurisdictions, there are provisions that address this concern. There are countries that allow generic manufacturer to start preparing a generic equivalent about two years before the expiration of the patent. As soon as the patent expires, the generic manufacturer can start already selling in the market. That is what is commonly called as the Bolar type or early working provision.
We don’t have an expressed Bolar provision in the current version of the Intellectual Property Code.
Alecks Pabico
September 30th, 2006 at 10:14 am
But you’re right about Mercury Drug. The biggest drugstore chain in the country controls 60 percent of retail distribution.
Generics’ small market share is also ensured by the monopolistic stranglehold by MNCs as 80 percent of wholesale distribution is controlled by Zuellig Pharma/Metro Drug.
ardythe
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Is it okay for a pharmacy assistant of the biggest drug store chain to recommend an antibiotics, amoxicillin in fact, to a father whose child has a cough? How about Solmux (generic name is carbocisteine) to a mom who’s inquiring what’s good for cough?
I don’t think so.
jr_lad
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:45 pm
i think what naykika meant is, once the person have consulted the doctor and was prescribed w/ a branded medicine, he could ask the pharmacist instead for an alternative cheaper drug under the same generic name. it’s up to the patient really but mostly, people here just rely on what their doctors say and that includes buying specifically whatever brand of medicine being prescribed by their physicians. afterall, the doc knows best.
naykika, doctors here usually prescribe branded medicines even w/ the generic law in effect. i don’t know w/ the others but that’s my personal experience. we all know this is due to the aggressive marketing strategies of foreign pharmaceutical companies as cited on above pcij report.
naykika
October 5th, 2006 at 9:35 am
jr-lad,
most doctors here, prescribed Chemical names (or Generic). Now it depends on the patient. If you are under the government drug plan, (seniors, indigent, social recipients or those without extended health insurance) usually the pharmacist with co-operation to save the govt. the cost will dispense an equivalent generic. Some paharmacist will dispense whatever available in their stock. Commission given by generic drugs maker to pharmacists arr greatly appreciated, becuase of a very low mark-up in RX medicines due to regulation and mostly to save our Universal health care sytem from going bankcrupt. Imagine this scnenario, health care expendenture of our province takes more than 50% of the budget (the other biggie is education) that is after a 50-50 share with the Federal download. Most of this goes to hospital care and professional fees. So, save where ever possible and generic drugs is a blessing.