Medicines still costly year after cheaper drugs law out in place

IT’S business as usual. More than one year has elapsed and yet many medicines are still being sold at their usual price.

Never mind that they are supposed to be lower with the Cheaper Medicines Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Gloria Arroyo in 2008.

For example, the antibiotic Augmentin suspension 60 ml is now priced at P359 while Zithromax costs P298.75. Another antibiotic, Metronidazole suspension, is P112 in stores.

The anti-hypertensive drug Norvasc is sold at more or less P44.50 while Amlodipine is still priced at P22. Anti-diabetic Diamicron is pegged at P14.75.

Sen. Manuel Roxas 2nd, who is now leading an inquiry on why the law has not yet been implemented, said that as long as the government fails to lower down the cost of medicines, the health of the poor will continue to suffer.

Roxas cited the case of 81-year-old Antonia Larica and her sons, Pepito, 59, and Reynaldo, 49, who are all afflicted with tuberculosis (TB). Pepito is also suffering from cerebral palsy while Antonia has been suffering from TB for 10 years now.

The senator said that the Larica family has been unable to get medication because of the high-cost of medicines. The family, he said, only earns P300 at most daily and only P120 in some days.

Health authorities say lowering the prices of essential medicines is very possible with the cooperation of the pharmaceutical industry and with the strict implementation of the law.

The Cheaper Medicines Act, after all, was passed to ensure that the poor have access to quality and affordable essential medications.

These essential medicines include those used to treat or control diseases that are the leading causes of death in the country such as hypertension, cancer, diabetes, asthma and infection.

The Philippines is one of the countries with the most expensive medicines sold in the market.

“Let us remember that local drug prices for many multinational products are priced from two to 10 times higher than prices of the same brands abroad,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd said.

The Department of Health last month recommended to President Gloria Arroyo cutting by 50 percent the prices of 21 essential medicines.

“With these initiatives, Amlodipine, for example, should now only be P22 from P44, Metronidazole suspension should only be at least P65 from P112. And there are more on the list. We want to speed up bringing down these drug prices in a way that our countrymen will benefit the soonest,” Duque said.

Prices

Antibiotic Augmentin suspension 60 ml will then be sold at P179.50 instead of P359; Zithromax at P149.37, not P298.75; anti-hypertensive drug Norvasc will be P22.50 from P44.50; and anti-diabetic Diamicron will be as low as P7.35, which is previously P14.75.

The department has submitted to the President a draft executive order setting the maximum drug retail price (MDRP) for these drugs.

It would cut by half the prices of the medicines, which also include: anti-hypertensive drugs: amlodipine 5mg, telmisartan 40 mg, irbesartan 150mg; anti-thrombotic drug: clopidogrel 75 mg; anti-cholesterol drug: atorvastatin 10 mg.

Also covered by the MDRP are anti-diabetic drug: gliclazide 80 mg; antibiotics/antibacterial drugs: piperacillin + tazobactam 4.5 g power for injection (vial), ciprofloxacin 500 mg; azithromycin 500 mg, metronidazole suspension 125 mg/5ml (60 ml), augmentin 156.25 mg/5ml suspension 60 ml, augmetin 1 g tab; augmentin 228.5 mg/5 ml suspension 70 ml, augmentin 312.5 mg/5ml suspension 60 ml, augmentin 375 mg tablet, augmentin 457 mg/ 5ml suspension 35 ml, augmentin 457 mg/5ml suspension 70 ml, and augmentin 625 mg tablet.

Other drugs included are anti-neoplastic drugs: bleomycin sulfate 15 mg vial/amp, carboplatin 150 mg vial, carboplatic 450 mg vial, cisplatic 10 mg powder vial, cyclophosphamide 50 mg tablet, cyclophosphamide 200 mg vial, cyclophosphamide 500 mg vial, cyclophosphamide 1000 mg vial, cytarabine 100 mg/ml amp (IV/SC), cytarabine 1 g vial (IV inf), cytaribine 500 mg (IV inf), doxorubicin hydrochloride 10 mg powder vial, doxorubin hydrochloride 50 mg powder vial, etoposide 20 mg/ml, 5 ml amp/vial, mesna (uromitexan) 400 mg amp, mercaptopurine 50 mg tablet, methothexate sodium 2.5 mg tablet, and methothexate sodium 50 mg vial.

The Cheaper Medicines Act aims to bring down medicine prices through competition policies such as the “parallel importation” of cheaper-priced medicines from abroad.

When competition fails to bring down the prices, the government can regulate the prices of drugs by setting a ceiling to its cost.

However, it may still take at least 60 days before such prices may be implemented.

“This is due mostly to administrative issues on reconciling inventory, compliance to labeling requirements as accorded by law and preventing possible stock-outs of the much needed products in the drugstores,” Duque said. –ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO REPORTER, Manila Times