Five drug companies to bring down prices - DOH

MANILA, Philippines - Five pharmaceutical companies are willing to bring down the prices of some of their products, bolstering efforts to make affordable but quality medicine available to poor patients, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

Dr. Robert So, program manager of DOH’s Pharmaceutical Management Unit, noted the companies have approached them to make it known that they support Republic Act 9502 or the Act Providing for Cheaper and Quality Medicine.

So claimed that 10 products of these companies could be covered by the price reduction. One of the firms had offered to slash its price by almost 50 percent.

But this does not guarantee that the products would not be covered by the “maximum retail price” strategy that the government was empowered to enforce under the law.

The price ceiling can be implemented if the government sees that public health is affected, if the prices of medicine in the Philippines are four to five times higher than those in other Asian countries, if the concerned products have only four generic counterparts and if the innovator or the original brand is the top-selling product.

Under the law, the DOH must come up with a list of medicine that would be covered by the maximum retail price. At present, the agency is prioritizing essential drugs or those used for the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, asthma and cancer, among others.

So added the DOH still has to study if price reduction being offered by a drug company is sufficient.