Palace warns of drug price sabotage

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang Sunday warned the public against the possibility of giant multinational drug companies “sabotaging” the government’s efforts to bring down the prices of medicine in the country.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde raised the scenario following reports that the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP) was planning to stage a “hospital holiday,” meaning they would close down and accept only emergency cases during the protest period.

The hospital-owners group is objecting to the implementation starting Aug. 15 of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s executive order setting maximum drug retail prices for at least five essential medicines.

The hospital group wants the government to allow it to continue selling its existing stocks, which were bought at higher prices, before EO No. 821 would take effect.

“We hope they are not being pushed (hindi kinakargahan) by multinational drug firms,” Remonde said during his weekly media forum aired on government-run dzRB radio.

“You know these multinational drug companies…because of the overprice they have been enjoying, because of the huge profits that they have been used to making in the Philippines, they will do everything to sabotage efforts to bring down the prices of medicine.”

“Part of the things they will do is sow intrigue among political leaders, among various sectors of society, to make them fight among themselves so they (the drug companies) would succeed in their unbridled greed to make a profit,” he said.

Remonde urged the PHAP to dialogue with the Department of Health to find a “reasonable solution to their problem.”

“We appeal to hospital administrators not to abandon their prime duty to serve the people,” he said. “Hospitals are established for public service.”

Cuts prices by half

EO 821 reduces by half the prices of five essential drugs—the antihypertensive drug amlodipine, the anti-cholesterol drug atorvastatin, the antibiotic and antibacterial drug azithromycin, and the antineoplastics and anticancer drugs cytarabine and doxorubicin.

The order was to originally cover 21 drugs listed by the DoH. But the number was reduced to five after manufacturers of the other medicines agreed to voluntarily lower their prices by at least 50 percent.

The DoH said it would review compliance with the mandatory price cut three to six months from the effectivity of the EO.

The order requires retail outlets, including drugstores and hospital pharmacies, to sell the five medicines at the new government-imposed price ceiling.

The president of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) earlier denied that it was sabotaging Malacañang’s order.

On Saturday, PHAP president Oscar Aragon said the group was committed to helping Filipinos gain access to cheaper essential drugs and urged its members to start slashing the prices of their medicine even before Aug. 15.

“Rest assured PHAP members are committed to the shared health objectives of the Universally Accessible Quality and Cheaper Medicines Act. We have advised PHAP members concerned to start selling their products at the adjusted prices way before the Aug. 15 deadline set by the government,” Aragon said at the Kapihan sa Sulo news forum.

Voluntary reduction

He pointed out that PHAP members, which include drug manufacturers, voluntarily agreed to reduce the prices of some of their products by 10 to 65 percent.

The medicines named in the EO were the ones whose prices the drug companies refused to lower voluntarily. The President issued the order pursuant to the cheaper medicines law, which gives her the power to impose the maximum retail prices of selected medicines.

Aragon also the defended drug manufacturing companies from claims that they had been making huge profits in the past years.

Aragon said research and development of medicines was expensive since out of several formulations that a company could come up with, only one would probably be approved for manufacture.

“We are investing most of the profits into research and development,” he said.

But he also assured the public that the lowering of the prices would have no effect on the quality of the drugs. He said all medicines are inspected by the Bureau of Food and Drug. –Christian V. Esguerra, Leila Salaverria, Philippine Daily Inquirer