PCC to ensure fair market competition in pharma industry

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) vowed to ensure fair market competition in the pharmaceutical industry in line with the directive of President Marcos to make medicines more accessible and affordable.

In a statement yesterday, PCC officer-in-charge chairperson Johannes Bernabe said the competition authority shares President Marcos’ vision of enabling access to lower priced medicines for Filipinos.

“With the President’s exhortation to achieve a level playing field and fair competition in the pharmaceutical industry, the PCC will pursue with even more resolve inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector, on top of its current efforts in this priority sector,” he said.

In his first State of the Nation Address, Marcos directed the PCC to ensure there are no cartels among pharmaceutical companies to allow the people to benefit from competition in the market that will bring down prices of medicines.

“This is one of the hard lessons that we learned when the pandemic struck, and therefore, we must act on that shortcoming,” Marcos said.

The Philippines is among those with the highest costs of medicines in Asia.

Bernabe said local production of unbranded generic medicines is also lagging behind other developing countries.

Since its inception, the competition authority has been pushing for measures to remove barriers to the entry and viability of firms engaged in the manufacture of generic medicines into the country, he said.

In addition, Bernabe said the PCC continues to monitor and look into possible anti-competitive behavior, including cartels, that may be present in pharmaceutical products’ supply chain.

“The PCC affirms its commitment to enforce its mandate of cracking down on cartels and abusive conduct across different industries, including this sector,” he said.

Apart from health and pharmaceuticals, other priority sectors for the PCC this year are e-commerce, food and agriculture, energy and electricity, insurance, construction, water and telecommunications.

As the antitrust authority, PCC is mandated to implement the Philippine Competition Act, which seeks to promote and protect market competition in the country.