DOH warns pharmaceutical firms, drug stores vs violating medicine price cut

MANILA, Philippines – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday warned all drug stores and pharmaceutical companies against non-compliance with the medicine price.

Duque said that drug stores and hospital pharmacies, “especially those with automated (inventory) system,” should have begun implementing the maximum drug retail price (MDRP) and the voluntary price cut yesterday to avoid penalties.

He noted that for those with manual systems, non-compliance by Sept. 15 would mean “penalties and sanctions after due process.”

The DOH began implementing yesterday Executive Order 821which placed five drugs under a 50-percent mandatory price reduction.

Thirty-eight other drugs have been volunteered for price cut by 10 to 50 percent.

“Although selected branded drugs are now 50 percent cheaper, we would like to re-emphasize that generic medicine is just as good as their branded counterparts and is generally affordable. We should always look for medicine that we can afford,” Duque maintained in a press briefing at the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.

The health chief advised consumers to still look for the generic equivalent of their medicine on the Generic Menu Cards displayed in drug retail outlets whenever they buy their medical supplies.

Duque led DOH officials across the country in inspecting drug stores and hospital pharmacies to ensure compliance with the adjusted medicine prices.

He said that generally, compliance was good on the first day based on the reports of DOH regional officers, although there are some drugstores that still sold concerned medicine at non-discounted rates.

Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) director Nazarita Tacandong said they would investigate violating pharmacies, and violators of the MDRP would be slapped with an administrative fine of P50,000 to P5 million under Republic Act 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicine Act.

Those who will not comply with the voluntary price reduction face a fine of P1,000, suspension of product registration and revocation of license to operate under he Consumer’s Act.

But RA 9502 showed that an offense might also be considered an “illegal act of price manipulation,” which is punishable by imprisonment of up to 15 years or a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P10 million or revocation of license to operate.

The DOH has set up complaints desks in all its regional offices nationwide to take calls or reports regarding violating drug outlets.

Duque added the DOH is “optimistic” that the program “will boost the purchase power of our financially-strapped fellow Filipinos who want to avail of needed medicine but cannot due to exorbitant prices.”

“Now that medicine prices are going down and maintenance medication and antibiotics are becoming more affordable, patients should now complete their antibiotic courses and become more compliant with their daily maintenance medicine. In doing so, we hope to achieve better health outcomes, less complications and improved quality of life,” he maintained.

He reiterated that “price differentials” resulting from the lowering of prices should not be covered by the retailers but by the manufacturers.

“It is now up to the drugstores and hospital pharmacies to iron out details on rebates for products/inventories that were bought at higher prices. But the assurance is there in black and white that the companies concerned will shoulder the cost of the price differentials,” Duque said.

He added that “all drug dispensing outlets, be it DOH hospitals or other government and private entities, should comply with these new policies.”

Roxas vows to keep an eye on prices

Meanwhile, Liberal Party president Sen. Mar Roxas vowed to closely monitor compliance by multinational drug companies and pharmacies with the imposition of the price cut.

He said the Congressional Oversight Committee on Cheaper Medicine would periodically check if drug stores indeed reduce by half the prices of the five drugs covered by Executive Order No. 821 and if drug companies abide by their promise to voluntarily bring down the prices of 16 other essential medicine.

“I thank the public for joining my fight for cheaper medicine,” said the primary author of the Universally Accessible, Cheaper and Quality Medicine Act.

“But the fight is not yet over. Many essential medicine remain expensive, and I will not stop until the government completes its job,” he declared.

Executive Order No. 821 imposing price cuts on anti-hypertensive, anti-cholesterol, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer medicine was signed by President Arroyo last month after drug firms refused voluntary price cuts on such products.

While Roxas is unhappy with President Arroyo’s failure to fully use her powers to lower prices of all essential medicine, he said he feels his first victory especially when consumers can now start buying the half-priced medicine in local drug stores.

Mrs. Arroyo signed EO 821 after much public criticism from Roxas and other proponents of the Cheaper Medicine Law, and even pointedly berated Roxas in her State of the Nation Address before the joint session of Congress last July.

Under EO 821, Mrs. Arroyo limited to five the essential medicine to be placed under the Maximum Drug Retail Price.

These are the anti-hypertensive drug Amlodipine (including its S-isomer and all salt form), with a mandatory price range from P9.60 to P38.50 depending on its strength; the anti-cholesterol drug Atorvastatin (P34.45 to P91.79); the antibiotic/antibacterial drug Azithromycin and all its salt forms (P108.50 to P468); and the anti-cancer drugs Cytarabine (P240 to P1,980) and Doxorubicin and all their salt forms (P1,465 to P2,265.74). –Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)