January 21, 2008 · Posted in: Congress Watch, Health Issues, In the News, Investigative Reports
Price-control-board debate may delay cheap drugs law
AFTER almost a decade, a bill that may spell the difference between health and death is on the verge of finally being enacted into law. Seeking to ensure access to affordable, quality medicines by majority of poor Filipinos, the measure will no doubt be among the priorities in the legislative order of business when sessions resume late this month, with the bicameral conference committee tasked to reconcile the two versions passed by both Houses of Congress late last year.
![[photo by Alecks P. Pabico]](http://www.pcij.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/medicines.jpg "[photo by Alecks P. Pabico]")
Certified as an urgent piece of legislation by the Arroyo administration since 2001, the proposed cheaper medicines law is however a showcase of how slowly Congress works. But the legislative inertia in the bill’s crafting is also because political and big-business interests are at stake, judging by the way it managed to get past the grueling congressional deliberations and intense lobbying by pharmaceutical companies and other interest groups particularly in the last two Congresses.
Both the bills’ principal authors, Senator Mar Roxas (Liberal Party) and Iloilo Representative Ferjenel Biron (Kampi), have recently expressed optimism that the work of harmonizing the two drafts would be an expeditious one. The two legislators even say that most of the provisions in the versions of the two chambers are reconcilable anyway, and so the focus would only be on their remaining differences.
But unless the matter devolves into one of political expediency, resolving those differences may not be a simple stroll in the park. Because beyond the handful of provisions proposing to amend Republic Act 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, which governs the grant of patents to new inventions, including medicines, the Senate and House bills, while having similar aims, have actually divergent means to achieve them. Debates would likely revolve around the more contentious issues of a drug-price regulatory board, the “must-carry” provision requiring all retail drug outlets to sell cheaper medicines, and amendments to the generics and pharmacy laws, among others.
This latest PCIJ report puts into context the various interests at play in the much-awaited passage of the affordable medicines law. It is also part of the i Report “Mad Over Money” series this month.
Read on at pcij.org.
7 Responses to Price-control-board debate may delay cheap drugs law
naykika
January 21st, 2008 at 6:53 am
Cheaper Medicine can be done and done as quickly if the lawmakers have resolves..We have been enjoying cheaper medicine compare to our Neighbours in the U.S. for long now, that the U.S. congress under pressure from Drug Companies Lobbyists enacted a law to make it illegal the cross border retail in drugs..and that on Top that Drugs in Canada prescribed to Seniors, Children, indigents, and welfare recipients are all Publicly funded and hospital patients also are covered under the Universal care scheme…But the Cheaper Price is due mainly to large scale acceptance of Generic Drugs, which can be produced even with patents not yet expired with the payment of royalties to the patent holders and thus bringing the Price cheaper than branded and to compete, drug companies have to lower the price of equivalent branded medications..
And how do the Government encourage the widespread use of Generic medications? Simple as “legally bribing” pharmacists in the form of commission or bonus for dispensing Equivalent Generic Medications, remember the Government saves on this scheme and has to encourage the pharmacies for more savings…And the drugs companies, don’t listen to their whining, they are making billions, even from their patent rights and also for their protected brands…
lestercavestany
January 21st, 2008 at 7:16 pm
And let’s also warn the public that one tactic that pharmaceutical companies might use is the disinformation campaign about generic drugs claiming that they are not the same as branded drugs. The US FDA Office of Generic Drugs refutes all these false claims. More information on this site: http://www.fda.gov/cder/ogd
fullman
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 am
they’re deploying that strategy already, but they’re using doctors as their talking heads. Today, doctors said that they would launch a hospital holiday to oppose the generics-only provision in the House version of the cheaper meds bill (Rep. Hontiveros of AKBAYAN and Rep. Pinggoy inserted that provision in the consolidated version of the bill). They claim that branded products are in fact more effective, and that they should be allowed to prescribe branded medicines to prevent patients from using counterfeit drugs.
Their claims on efficacy is not factual. They should be challenged to present evidence to back up their claims, though i doubt if they would be able to present an evidence proving that patients have died or have not recovered because they used generic drugs.
The argument on the proliferation of counterfeit drugs is a scare tactic. Ironically, the target of counterfeiting are branded products and not generic ones. Fake drugs have buyers because medicines here are exorbitantly priced. If you want to curb fake medicines, then lower the price of medicines and ensure that our customs laws are strictly enforced.
What these doctors – led by PMA – have failed to mention is that doctors are getting perks from pharmaceutical companies for endorsing their products. They get free buffets from pharmas, and sponsorship for company outings. THey get free trips abroad, too, and others receive commission from the sale of branded products. It isn’t so much about the so-called poor quality of generic drugs – it is about the lack of ethics on the part of doctors who do not wish to prescribe generic drugs and their collusion with multi-million pharmaceutical companies to keep essential drugs inaccessible.
naykika
January 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
The assertion by anyone that Generic drugs are of lower quality is a myth..generic meds are manufactured of the same chemical ingredients as branded meds. i have been taking alternatively branded, generic (of different manufacturers, whichever in stock)medications and don’t feel any difference with them, and my Pharmacists and Doctors assure me they are all the Same…
Alecks P. Pabico
January 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Generics’ image problem is unfortunate because the Bureau of Food and Drug’s own laboratory analysis comparing the quality of branded and generics medicines shows there is actually not much difference.
Tests done on generic drugs submitted to BFAD between January and August 2006, for instance, showed that 92 percent (1,138 out of 1,235) conformed to the agency’s standards, while 11 (0.89 percent) failed. In the case of branded medicines, 3,000 (91 percent) met BFAD standards while eight (0.24 percent) did not.
“Walang pinagkaiba. Mas mataas pa nga yung percentage conformity ng generics drug kumpara sa branded,” BFAD Deputy Director Joshua Ramos remarked then when I interviewed him for a report I wrote about the landmark generics law in 2006 after almost two decades of its implementation.
If at all, Ramos added, “this is really more of a marketing strategy to condition the public’s mind that generic drugs, because they are cheaper, are inferior in quality.”
jr_lad
January 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
agree with all the comments here. i really cannot fathom why our doctors are opposing the use of generic drugs. either they are dumb or they are under the payroll of these multinational companies. ginagago ang mga tao gamit pa ang mga doctors.
Farm_a_cyst
February 4th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
to NAYKIKA, US health system is way different to ours, one thing more, FDA and BFAD is quite incomparable.Dunno if FDA allows proliferation of Chinese Drugstores on their country, sa PInas kasi ito pa isa sa pinakamalaking problema, and pagpasok ng mga counterfeit at smuggled na mga gamot galing kung saan-saan.
“Walang pinagkaiba. Mas mataas pa nga yung percentage conformity ng generics drug kumpara sa branded,” BFAD Deputy Director Joshua Ramos
To Alecks, can you furnish me a copy of this study, kasi sa karanasan ko ang inspector ng BFAD announced or/and anticipated pag mag-iinspect/sampling na eh.
Yun namang “dapat” pareho ang mga medicines under one generic name, yun ang tama, theoretically and ayon sa FDA, pero sa PINAS, hindi ata aplikable yun.
sa yo jr_lad, hindi nag-oopose ang mga doctors sa generic drugs, what we are opposing are the provisions that would only allow us to prescribe generic drugs sans the brsnd name.
there are only a handful of generic drugs manufacturer na pwedeng pag-katiwalaan,UNILAB, Phares, Ritemed to name a few.
huwag tayong padaskul daskul sa pagsang ayon sa mga batas na sa pabalat ay nagsusulong kunwa ng kapakanan ng mahihirap, ngunit hindi natin alam higit itong magdudulot ng suliranin sa ating mahihirap na kababayan. Natatandaan nyo pa ba ang Medical Malpractice Act? Kawawa daw yung mga na-agrabyado ng mga higanteng hospital at mayayamang doktor, pero kung uusisain mo ang kalamnan ng batas na ito, mas marami pang butas kesa sa bola ng badminton.Sa batas na ito pinapayagang magdispense ng gamot ang mga doktor. “dispensing physician” ika nga, alam nyo ba implikasyon nito? maaaring mamanipulya ng mga mga manggagamot na tiwali at makasarili ang mga pasyente nila, maaring ito lang ang gamot na available sa cabinet nya kaya ito ang reseta, o dili kaya eh mas malaki ang tubo sa gamot na ito kaya ito ang nireseta at binenta nya sa pasyente, hindi dahil sa kung anong gamot ang mainam sa kanyang pasyente. Sa probisyon na iyon tuluyan ring wawasakin ang propesyon ng pharmasyutika isang bukod na agham na pinatatag ng Pharmacy Law.
Sa batas na isinusulong ng mga mambabatas ngayon, sa tingin nyo para ba ito sa pagpapaunlad ng generics drug? ng pagsusulong sa Generics Act of 1988? Sa ilalim ng batas na ito, ang “paralel imporatation” ng mga gamot na “branded” ay maaring maging legal, ang implikasyon nito sa lokal na merkado ay pagdagsa ng maraming “branded” na gamot galing sa kung saan-saan na syang kikitil sa maliliit na manggawa ng generic drugs. Saan ba manggagaling ang mga gamot na iaangkat? sa India? sa Pakistan? sa middle east? tsk tsk tsk
May mga batas tayong nakatatag dapat lang eh ayusin at amiendahan, gaya ng ginawa nila sa Dangerous Drug Act, kelan pa ba ang Pharmacy Law? Ang batas na nagtatag ng BFAD? Isa pa, kahit anong sistema pa ang pairalin, kahit gaano katatag na patakaran pa ang ipasa, kung ang mga uupo at magmamaniubra sa ay corrupt, ay mababalewala rin. Iiputan lang ang mga nasabing batas, minsan ala naman sa batas o sistema ang problema, minsan nasa tao rin na nagpapatupad nito.