New act won't assure cheaper medicines - official

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - The implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Act is not an assurance that the cost of medicines will decrease outright. "There will be no automatic reduction," Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a press briefing concerning the National Health Sector Meeting held at Hotel Elizabeth. Duque said more time should be given for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law to take effect before an assessment is made of how effective the law is, in primarily making the cost of medicines affordable. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the Cheaper Medicines Act last July 4 and the IRR took effect this month. "With the IRR, we can now regulate prices. Presently, we are in the process of coming up with policies and the medicines to be regulated. However, we have to be patient because we have to follow government procedures to go through this," Duque said. Aside from having access to effective but affordable medicine, this law is also expected to cut the cartel on drug manufacture by allowing parallel importation of patented drugs. The Cheaper Medicines Law likewise allows local drug manufacturers to manufacture the generic equivalent of patented or branded drugs, without fear that charges might be filed for infringement of copyright. Data from the Philippine International Trading Company (PITC), an importer of cheap medicines, reveal that 85 percent of drugs patented by multinational companies have expired. The law strengthens the Generics Act by strengthening prescription methods of doctors. Government physicians are mandated to prescribe generics only medicine while physicians in the private practice may prescribe branded medicines with the condition that prescription must contain the generic name and that this should be written legibly. The same law strengthens the functions of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) in terms of price monitoring, regulation of food supplements and laboratory analysis, among others. In the five-year business plan of the BFAD, Director Leticia Gutierrez said about 897 personnel will be hired. This is part of bureau's human resource expansion, acquisition of equipment and improvement of facilities. "In the BFAD's bid of strengthening its mandate, more personnel would also have to be employed," Gutierrez said. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved 374 plantilla items for the bureau, but there are only 308 existing personnel. In the meantime, Duque said the DOH will be implementing cost-containment measure by imposing a price ceiling on how much medicines should be sold. The price ceiling will initially cover the most common forms of medicine used by Filipinos. - Sun.Star Baguio