'RP has most expensive medicine in the world'

So ran the news head, sourced from the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) chairman and president Roberto Pagdanganan, no less.

To recall, when now Senator Mar Roxas still steered the Department of Trade and Industry, his pet advocacy had been to strike a tie-up with India to lower medicine prices sold locally. In fact, he later announced making good a deal with India for medicines cheaper by more than 50 percent on certain generic across-the-counter drugs.

Likewise, when Roxas later ran for Senator, one of his election promises had been to legislate to lower all medicine prices when he would have been elected senator. Roxas is now an Honorable Senator of the land, but still, not only do prices of various drugs stand high, they do stand much, much higher beyond the reach of the sickly poor.

A lot admired the young Roxas as a brilliant grandson and son of his equally brilliant grandfather and father to grace Philippine politics. He also used to be one of a rare kind countable with one's fingers as sincere, not a promise breaker, as the run of the mill politicians are.

Not condemning him for his unfulfilled word, let Roxas pass judgment on himself. No need of Korina Sanchez to ask Roxas in her tv show the same questions the public asks about the sky-high prices of medicine he bound himself to lower. Imagine, even across-the-counter pain relievers or paracetamol sold here, is among the overpriced pharmacy items in the world.

Pagdanganan says that the "cartel system" through non-competitive structure in the manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs among a handful few, is the root cause of it all. He has fingered the "cartel" to control market prices by dictating the price of drug makers. And yet, despite the long lingering dilemma, PITC is still on the stage of announcing "plans… to address the problem of overpriced medicine." Why only now?

While there is the law requiring physicians to prescribe generic medicines, the painful fact prevails that a lot of generic drugs have names and manufacturers unheard of and, therefore, not yet trusted. Added to this problem is the proliferation of fake drugs. No wonder, both physicians and patients resort to branded drugs of noted companies, despite higher cost.

Belatedly, PITC recently entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) Phil., on partnership with various multi-national drug dealers in order to help rationalize prices of most-needed drugs in the country.

However, harnessing the "Botikang Bayan" outlets under the Value Health Program, opens to questions, like red tape, shortness of supply, etc. Why not rationalize prices nationwide without hassle through drugstores, big or small, including local variety stores?

On account of costly drugs, most Filipinos can not afford; hence, they patronize herbolarios or merikos, faith healers, and other native healers who "prescribe" plant leaves or roots, and such other concoctions. Others who can barely eke out resort to food supplements being promoted to cure certain ailments, hoping for some curative effect, as advertised.

The big question is: Why, of all countries in the world, does the Philippines happen to be where medicines are most expensive? Corollarily, why does India with population as 2nd largest in the world produce drugs at prices lesser by more than half compared to ours?

The long-term solution, in theory at least, is to develop local pharmaceutical industry with government support, including no-nonsense research program on native or indigenous raw materials for medicine. Since India has done it, why can't the Philippines do it, particularly in manufacturing generic drugs with the same curative efficiency and efficacy as the branded ones?