99 percent of Filipinos can’t afford‍ prescription drugs, says survey

As a group of pharmaceutical companies questioned the Department of Health’s (DOH) move to put a cap on the price of 120 medicines, a Pulse Asia survey showed that 99 percent of Filipinos do not purchase all their prescription medicines due to their high cost.

The September Ulat sa Bayan report released by the DOH on Thursday showed that virtually all Filipinos are prevented from buying the complete course of medicines that they need “because they are expensive.”

For those who have the means to buy medicines, the DOH said the survey found that only two out of three Filipinos, or 67 percent, are able to get the five different drugs prescribed to them for a month’s use.

Of that population, 33 percent said they only purchase medicines that would last for less than a week. At least 26 percent said the supply of medicines they buy is only good for a week, while a measly 4 percent get their prescription drugs that would last for at least two weeks to a month.

When the respondents were asked how much they were willing to spend for a month’s supply of medicines, 71 percent said they can only shell out less than P1,000. Only 24 percent said they were willing to spend up to P5,000.
According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, the survey results showed the urgency of setting a maximum drug retail price (MDRP) for the 122 drugs used for such ailments as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular, neonatal and chronic lung diseases as well as major cancers.

“Nine years have passed since the MDRP was passed and not one molecule was added to that list. It’s just but timely that we lengthen that list for the public’s sake,” Duque told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier, the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) warned that the DOH’s price control proposal sent to Malacañang last month would hurt patients more than help them as drug manufacturers would supposedly reconsider launching new medicines or even pull out their existing products in the country.

The DOH’s proposal would cut down the price of the 122 medicines by as much as 43 percent.

“When price controls were imposed in 2009, the industry lost P11 billion, small retailers closed down or were sold to bigger chains, and the targeted patients still were not able to buy at all or at the right dosages,” PHAP claimed earlier.

Duque noted that their own study showed that whatever the industry may have lost due to the price cap set then was compensated by the rise in the number of medicines purchased by the public.

“Aren’t medicines supposed to help our people? Why would you want to profit so much from that? We’re a middle-income country. Our people by and large can’t afford medicines,” he said.

In the Pulse Asia survey, 73 percent said they wanted the DOH and the pharmaceutical industry to work on lowering drug prices at par with other countries.