MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has listed a total of 120 high-cost medicines that will be recommended for price reduction under a maximum drug retail price (MDRP) scheme.
The DOH on Thursday released to the public the list of 120 medicines up for price reduction. These medicines treat leading diseases and catastrophic conditions including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung diseases, and major cancers.
The list also includes high-cost treatments for chronic renal disease, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
“High prices of medicines affect the health of many Filipinos. To have better health outcomes, we’ll keep the medicine prices down pero hindi naman pababayaan malugi ang pharmaceutical companies [but we will not let pharmaceutical companies go bankrupt],” Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said in a press conference.
Under the MDRP scheme, the prices of the selected medicines are expected to have an average price reduction of 56 percent from market prices.
Drug Price Advisory Council chairman Dr. John Wong explained that the 120 medicines up for price reduction were selected based on the average prices in southeast Asian countries as well as developed countries, or what he called “external reference pricing.”
It was also based on the burden of the disease in terms of magnitude and severity of the conditions, and the presence of limited competition.
“We make sure that this is affordable [to] Filipinos but, at the same time, also fair for companies. We also compared it to other countries selling the drugs at the same price,” Wong said in the same press conference.
Domingo noted that the Philippines is still paying higher prices for medicine when compared to other countries, despite the general trend of the prices of generic essential medicines going down in recent years.
He said that generic drugs are still sold up to four times the international reference prices while branded medicines are sold up to 22 times higher, especially in private hospitals and pharmacies.
“In terms of volume, mas malaki na ang part ngayon ng generic medicines. It means marami nang tao na nagtitiwala sa mga generic medicines. Pero pag dating sa price, mas malaki pa rin ang share ng branded medicines,” the Health official said.
(In terms of volume, the generic medicines are getting the huge chunk. It means a lot of people and trusting these generic medicines. But when it comes to price, the branded medicines still get a big share.)
The MDRP scheme is pursuant to Republic Act 9502 or the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008. Reduction of prices will commence once an executive order is signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. /jpv
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