Creation of regulatory board for cheap meds urged

A non-government organization seeks the creation of a drug price regulatory board to ensure that medicine is within reach of the average Filipino.

The KilosBayan para sa Kalusugan (KBK) believes the Cheap Medicine Bill in Congress would not serve the interest of poor patients.

“The creation of a drug price regulatory board could be one crucial step in lowering the prices of medicine,” the group said.

“KBK is not very optimistic that the people will really have access to low-cost essential medicine through the much-boasted about Cheaper Medicine Bill.”

The KBK has been pushing for the lowering of drug prices, among other health-related advocacies.

It is hopeful that through a drug price regulatory board, the government will set a ceiling for the prices of medicine.

It sees a need for the Philippines to develop its own national drug industry, similar to what India and Pakistan did 10 years ago to become today’s leading source of medicine in the world.

“In the comprehensive and strategic sense, the Bill does not make any single mention about the need to develop our own national drug industry,” KBK said.

“Scientific research, development and manufacture of local essential drugs could not flourish given the present restrictions on trade and lack of government support.”

The KBK said the Cheap Medicine Bill has not addressed the fact that prices of medicine in the Philippines are very high and how they can be lowered.

“The KBK is disappointed that the Cheaper Medicine Bill did not tackle the problem,” it said. “The Bill is silent about the control of multinational corporations in the marketing, distribution and pricing of medicine.”

Meanwhile, the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) has chosen the Philippines as pilot for a project intended to make medicine cheaper and accessible, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.

“The coming of MeTA in the Philippines is very welcome and timely,” he said.

“MeTA is an added boost in the country’s fight to make quality drugs affordable and reachable for our country’s poor. MeTA will be RP’s watchdog in tackling potential inefficiencies and corrupt practices in the system and in exposing the unethical practices which can happen in the pharmaceutical sector and government as well.”

Dr. Roberto So, program manager of the health department’s Pharmaceutical Management Unit, said the country would be receiving $200,000 every year for two years from MeTA.

“For instance, MeTA will be studying the accessibility of medicine in Palawan,” he said. “If medicine is not accessible there, why is that so and what can be done to address that.”

So said after two years, the council will assess if there is a need to continue the project.

The funds would be used to finance studies that will deal with issues affecting the drug industry, he added.

So said the MeTA project would promote transparency in medicine-related transactions and pricing.

The project will also touch on rational use of medicine, doctors’ prescription behavior and ethical marketing, he added.