EO on drug price caps signed; pharma to comply

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has signed an executive order imposing price caps on medicines for hypertension, cancer, diabetes and other diseases as part of the effort to improve the public’s access to health care. 

In signing EO 104 yesterday, Duterte noted that expensive healthcare, including costly medicines, “pushes a significant number of Filipinos to poverty” and “discourages them from seeking appropriate medical treatment.”

This condition, he added, leads to drug and medicine resistance, which increases mortality rates across different socio-economic classes.

The new EO regulates the prices of more than 130 drug formulas. Medicines covered by the price caps include antihypertensives, antidiabetic drugs, anti-cancer drugs, analgesics, substances for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anticoagulant, gents affecting bone metabolism, substances for psoriasis, seborrhea and ichthyosis, growth hormone inhibitor, antidepressants, antiviral and mucolytic. 

The maximum retail price (MRP) or maximum wholesale price (MWP) is imposed on certain medicines based on four criteria. The medicines covered by the price caps are those that address the health priorities of the general public especially those that account for the leading causes of morbidity and mortality; have high price differentials and arbitrage compared to international prices; have limited competition in terms of lack of generic counterparts or lack of market access to the products; and drugs where the innovator product is the most expensive yet most prescribed or dispensed in the market.

A technical working group composed of representatives from the health and trade departments shall convene and review the prices of the remaining 36 drug molecules or 72 drug formulas previously proposed to be subject of the maximum retail or wholesale prices. 

The price caps shall be imposed on all manufacturers, wholesalers, traders and distributors. 

“No public or private entity shall be allowed to sell, reimburse, or demand from the public or patients payment in an amount higher than the MRP or MWP as the case may be,” the order read.

The list of drugs covered by the price caps shall be reviewed by the health department, in consultation with the trade department within six months from the effectivity of the order and every six months thereafter. 

Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) gave assurance yesterday that it would comply with the new EO. However, it cautioned that the government should “closely monitor its impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the general public.”