8 of 10 cancer-stricken children die daily in RP

MANILA, Philippines - Eight out of ten cancer-stricken children in the country die every day because their families could not afford medicines, Senator Pilar Juliana Cayetano said Thursday. Citing statistics from the Cancer Warriors Foundation (CWF) Cayetano said the figure translates to around 2,500 deaths every year. CWF is a nationwide support group for children with cancer. It estimates the number of Filipino children diagnosed with cancer every year at around 3,500, about half of which are leukemia, a form of cancer in which the body produces too many white blood cells. Cayetano said the high-mortality rate was because childhood cancer drugs in the country remain very expensive and inaccessible to the public, especially to families of children afflicted with cancer, despite the passage of the cheaper medicines law last year. “What has kept the government from performing its obligation under the cheaper medicines law? Clearly, its urgent intervention or continued inaction could spell the difference between life and death for this vulnerable and defenseless sector," she said. Using price comparison data collated by CWF, the senator noted how the cost of some essential childhood cancer medicines here are much more expensive, some by almost ten times (or 1,000 percent), compared to their selling prices in India: According to CWF, Mercaptupurine costs P40 per tablet in the Philippines, but the same medicine can be bought for only P4.22 in India. Big price disparities can also be noted in the case of Leunase (P2,500/piece locally, P1,400/piece in India); Metotrexate (P200/vial locally, P50.74/vial in India); Metorexate (P13/tablet locally, P1.52 in India); Vincristine (P450/vial locally, P95.92/vial in India); Cyclophosphamide (P275/vial locally, P61.50/vial in India); and Doxorubicin (P450/vial locally, P102.61/vial in India). Cayetano said in industrialized countries like the United States, Japan and Europe, the survival rate is much higher at eight out of ten. Because of this, she asked the Department of Health (DOH) to immediately act on the high cost of medicines. She said last year, the DOH had committed to undertake parallel importation of lower-priced drugs through the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and include childhood cancer medicines in its essential drugs list. She said being included in the essential drugs list would subject the childhood cancer medicines to the maximum retail price mechanism (MRPM) under Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act (RA 9502). - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV