MANILA, Philippines -- The scrapping of the generics-only provision in the reconciled version of the cheaper medicines bill may have watered down the measure, but should not necessarily kill it, according to a former health secretary.
“It’s half a loaf, but it’s better than nothing,” said Alberto Romualdez Jr., the health secretary of the short-lived Estrada administration.
“The government buckled down to pressure from doctors and the big pharmaceutical firms,” Romualdez said in a phone interview.
But he is hopeful that the Department of Health would aggressively implement the Generics Law to offset the effect of the scrapping of the contentious provision.
The government initially pushed for the inclusion of a provision requiring doctors to prescribe only the generic names of drugs but backed down in the face of strong objections from physicians’ groups and the Senate.
Only the House version of the bill contained the generics-only provision and a price-regulating mechanism through a proposed drug price regulatory board composed of representatives from various agencies and the private sector.
The bicameral panel decided to drop the contentious provision to break the impasse and make way for its signing into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before May 1.
It also scrapped the proposed drug price regulatory board, and transferred the power to regulate prices to the President.
Romualdez said the scrapping of the generics-only provision was a disappointment.
“That was the original intention of the Generics Law. A prescription should not be used for marketing purposes. When you put a branded name in a prescription, you’re marketing that drug,” he said.
Romualdez advised civil society groups is to keep a close eye on the drafting of implementing rules and regulations of the cheap medicines law by the DoH as these could further weaken the implementation of the measure.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said it was too premature to say that the final version of the bill had been watered down.
“Let it first be implemented. And let’s see whether it will produce the desired result,” he told reporters.
The Senate and House bicameral panels have been deadlocked on the contentious clause until the President last week ordered the lower chamber to drop it to pave the way for the bill’s passage.
Romualdez said he agreed with the move to discard the Drug Price Regulatory Board, and transfer the power to set maximum retail prices of medicine to the President.
Whether there is such a regulatory board or not, the ultimate decision to regulate the prices lies in the President. Besides, the health secretary could create a similar body to regulate prices, he said.
Nograles said he didn’t care whose version was adopted, so long as the proposed law met its main objective of lowering drug prices.
“The objective is to produce cheap medicine. Whether or not that’s the House or Senate version, what’s important is that we produce cheap medicine,” he said.
He indicated that fighting for the House version would be futile.
Senator Manuel Roxas, who co-chaired the bicameral panel, said the scrapping of drug price regulatory board provision served to strengthen the bill.
“The deletion of a corruption-prone board definitely strengthens this bill against regulatory capture by wealthy multinational drug companies,” he said, adding that such a board would also be prone to red tape and politicking.
By giving the mandate to regulate drug prices to the President with the health secretary as adviser, “the people know the people in charge and can hold them accountable,” he said.
Roxas also said that the cheap medicines law would also lead to a stronger and tougher Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).
To strengthen the BFAD, the bicam panel agreed that it be allowed to retain its operating income from fees and other charges so it can upgrade its facilities and beef up its human resources, he said.
