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[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW | A plea to amend the Cheaper Medicine Law’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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Thursday, April 27, 2017
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ALTHOUGH well-applauded during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency, the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 (RA 9205) – better known as the Cheaper Medicine Law – has not lived up to its promise of cutting prices of medicines within the reach of the poor. Although the law had lowered by 50 percent the prices of some prescription drugs by the time Arroyo stepped down, in effect it only reduced “overpricing.”
In other words, the law empowering the President to regulate drug prices has hardly served the purpose of ending the greed of multinational drug companies.
I recall that as an immediate effect of that law, my budget for “maintenance” medicine for hypertension had lowered. The tablet Norvasc 5 had gone down from P44 to P22.85. I was to learn later, however, that it was still prohibitive, since the cost of the same drug in India and Pakistan was the equivalent of P3 only in Philippine currency.
The consuelo de bobo price cuts could have been triggered more by competition than by the new law, since the relatively cheaper but equally-effective “generics” had by then diminished the supply volume of branded drugs.
Can we blame the people for now doubting whether the Cheaper Medicine Law would still deliver its promise?
In the six years that he was in power, Arroyo’s successor, President Noynoy Aquino, did no price cuts of overpriced medicines.
Incumbent President Rodrigo Duterte, too focused on his “war on illegal drugs”, has never exercised his power to cut prices of legal drugs.
The law could have fulfilled its promise had it not junked an important provision in the original bill of Cong. Ferjenel Biron – the provision creating the Drug Prices Regulatory Board, which would have pegged realistic prices of medicines. But that provision was amended by then Senator Mar Roxas to empower the President – upon recommendation by the Department of Health – to play that role.
To this day, it’s that failure to create a regulatory body that has rendered the law ineffective against cartelization among big players in the drug industry. And so the Filipino people’s access to essential medicines is at the mercy of profit-greedy drug makers.
Why did then Senator Roxas opt to authorize President Arroyo to regulate the prices of medicines?
Let us remember that in that year 2008, Roxas was entertaining the thought of running for President in 2010; hence, he could eventually keep the drug cartel at his beck and call. Unfortunately, he had to give way to the more popular aspirant Noynoy Aquino, and to slide down to being the latter’s running mate.
That Roxas lost the vice presidency to Jejomar Binay could probably be partially attributed to people’s disgust with the weak law.
No wonder, when he finally ran for President in May 2016, he made no noise about the failure of RA 9205.
Since the Cheaper Medicines Law is silent about the control of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the marketing, distribution and pricing of medicines, their local competitors look like dwarfs in comparison. According to a non-government organization, Consumers Action for Empowerment (CAE), the country’s drug industry is controlled by TNCs, which corner no less than 70 percent of the medicines sold in the country. TNC-dominated patent holders enjoy the exclusive license to produce certain drugs and dictate prices.
There is therefore a need to amend the law. Will Congressman Biron please do it by re-introducing that provision creating a price regulatory board? (hvego@yahoo.com/PN)
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