EDITORIAL

Slashing 50 Percent Price
of 22 Prescribed Drugs

A year after the law was enacted, the public would soon start experiencing the effects of the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines law through a 50 percent drop in the prices of the top 22 most prescribed drugs in the Philippines, Senator Mar Roxas, the author of the law believes.

"One year after the enactment of the Cheaper Medicines law, finally the DOH is starting to implement it," he claimed.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque had announced an initial "Maximum Retail Price" (MRP) on the 22 most prescribed medicines in the Philippines would be endorsed for President Arroyo’s approval within the week. "After six months of implementation, the DOH and DTI would have jointly studied and perused that there is limited access to some medicines that address public health concerns, thus requiring regulation of prices," Duque said during the oversight committee hearing.

Those included in the initial MRP list are anti-hypertensive, anti-throm-botic, anti-cholesterol, anti-diabetic, antibiotics/anti-bacterial and anti-neoplastic drugs, which prices would be slashed by 50 percent based on the price of the leading brands.

According to Roxas, the MRP list comes at a most opportune time when the country is battling a possible outbreak of the AH1N1 virus and following complaints of senior citizens groups on their inability to buy their maintenance and pre-scription medicines.

The 50 percent slash on the anti-hypertensive drug Norvasc, from the present P44.50 prevailing cost to only P22.50, would help the elderly maintain their health. Also, the P7.35 cost of the anti-diabetic Diamicron from the old P14.75 and the P66 price of the antibiotic Flagil from P132 would benefit thousands of senior citizens in the Philippines.

Roxas cited the case of an 81-year old Antonia Larica and her sons, 59-yr old Pepito and 49-year-old Reynaldo, who are all afflicted with tuberculosis. Pepito is also suffering from cerebral palsy. Antonia has been suffering from TB for 10 years now. They told Roxas and Duque before the hearing that they have been unable to buy their anti-TB drugs because of the unaffordable high-cost of the medicines. The Larica family, all living in one roof, only earns at most P300 a daily from selling used plastics for their food and drug requirements. On lean days, their earning is only P120.

Roxas also cited the case of a 54-year old Oscar Advincula, who suffered a heart attack while serving his term behind bars. Since his heart attack in 1999, Advincula said he had not been able to drink his medicines because he could not afford to buy them. His son earns only P50 a day, which is barely enough for their daily food requirements.

While the MRP list is a good move, the DOH needs to do more to further bring down the prices of medicines, Roxas pointed out.

He urged Duque to lobby for more funding for the Bureau of Food and Drugs for the hiring of additional workers to check and monitor the manu-facture and sale of drugs in the country, and for the Philippine International Trading Corporation for the parallel importation of medicines.

"Everyone has a right to live, and it is the government’s duty to prevent poverty figure into the equation of who gets to live or not. That is the bottom line," he stressed. /MP