MANILA, Philippines -- The Senate version of the cheaper medicines bill does not have a provision requiring doctors to prescribe only generic drugs, Senator Manuel Roxas II said Tuesday.

Medical doctors have threatened to go on a “holiday” to oppose this provision in the House version of the bill. The doctors argue that the government cannot impinge on their right to prescribe what they deem best for their patients.

Roxas, who chairs the Senate committee on trade and commerce and co-chairs the bicameral committee tackling the measure, said a technical working group coordinates with the Senate committee on health and demography to further discuss the impact of this provision in the House version on doctors and pharmacists.

He noted that amendments to both the Generics Act of 1988 and the Pharmacy Law were introduced during the course of hearings on the cheaper medicines bill in the Lower House.

Roxas vowed to make the bicameral conference meetings, set for next week when Congress resumes session, as transparent and open as possible.

“Representative Antonio Alvarez [Palawan] and I, as co-chairs of the bicameral committee, have agreed to make our deliberations as open and transparent as possible,” he said.

Roxas promised to schedule bicameral committee meetings during the break, but some congressmen were still in their respective provinces.

Another controversial difference between the two versions is that the authorizing unit that can set the prices of medicines.

The Senate version gives the authority to the Office of the President, which can delegate it to the health and trade secretaries.

“In the Senate version, we subscribe to the idea of price regulation on medicines but only through the Office of the President and based on the recommendation of the secretaries of Health and Trade. This is reflective of the current Price Act and ensures direct and clear accountability whenever the need for price control arises,” Roxas said.

“Under the Senate version, the secretaries of Health and Trade, being the ones most familiar with the health situation and the supply and demand of medicines, are given sufficient leeway to decide how consultations on drug price regulation should be institutionalized,” he added.

The House version, on the other hand, seeks the creation of a price-setting board.
“This is quite different from the House version that seeks to establish a drug price regulatory board composed of representatives from different agencies and consumer groups that will have immense power to set the prices of medicines -- higher or lower -- based on their own analysis of the situation,” Roxas said.

“Though the proposed bill is silent on voting procedures, it is assumed that decisions to impose price control will be made by majority vote of the members of the board,” he added.

Despite the differences in the two versions, Roxas said he is “optimistic that the bicameral conference committee would be able to consolidate the best features of the Senate and House versions.”

The Senate was able to pass its version of the bill in the 13th Congress, and soon after the 14th Congress. Senate wanted the law passed in time for Christmas but for much wrangling at the Lower House