Drug store owners back move to regulate drug prices

Drug store owners are backing the move of some lawmakers to regulate the prices of medicines in the country, saying this will help patients comply with the course of treatment prescribed by doctors.

Josephine Inocencio, national affairs committee co-chair of the Drug Store Association of the Philippines, said the prohibitive price of medicines on the local market makes it difficult for patients to meet their medical needs.

"The compliance rate among patients is very low. I think only the A and B crowd can afford to buy medicines. The others would rather buy food than medicine," she said in a telephone interview yesterday.

A group of lawmakers had launched a 10-million signature drive in support of House Bill 3830, which seeks to impose a ceiling on drug prices in the Philippines.

Once approved, the measure is expected to result in a 50-percent reduction in drug prices here, which are estimated to be 40 to 200 percent higher than those in neighboring countries.

Under the plan, the signatures would be presented to Malacañang, the House of Representatives and Senate to impress upon them the need to lower drug prices.

Inocencio said previous efforts to provide Filipinos with affordable medicines through the generics law had been unsuccessful.

"The generics law was meant to give competition to the multinational companies. But it did not happen. Doctors are more inclined to prescribe branded medicines while Filipinos have the belief that branded is better," she said.

Inocencio said that while price regulation could cut the prices of drugs, they are hopeful that the volume of medicines bought would also increase.

"I think what is important here is that if the prices are regulated, more Filipinos would be able to buy medicines. I think that should be our priority right now," she said.

Meanwhile, the Coalition Against Counterfeit Medicines is urging the government to allocate more funds to the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) to enable the agency to implement programs against fake medicines.

In a statement, the coalition said the BFAD is "hobbled" by a severe lack of manpower and logistics. This has hampered efforts to curb the proliferation of counterfeit medicines in the country, which account for 10 percent of the Philippines’ P95-billion pharmaceutical industry.