FDA exempts 17 more medicines from VAT

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MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added 17 more medicines to the list of health products exempted from value-added tax (VAT), making these more affordable to Filipinos.

Under FDA Advisory No. 2024-1618, signed on Nov. 22 by Director General Samuel Zacate, the regulatory body endorsed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) an exemption from the 12-percent VAT for eight medicines for diabetes, four medicines for cancer and three for mental illness.

Under BIR rules, the effectivity of the latest VAT exemption starts on Nov. 25, when the FDA made the updated list public.

READ: 12 drugs vs diabetes, cancer, TB now VAT-free

This is the sixth time this year that the FDA updated its list of VAT-exempted medicines. Under the law, the FDA must provide an updated list 30 days before the beginning of every quarter.

Tumors, disorders

Included in the latest VAT-exempt drugs are Degarelix (80 milligrams and 120 mg) used for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer in patients requiring male hormone deprivation therapy; and Tremelimumab (25 mg/1.25 mL and 300 mg/15 mL) used to decrease the tumor growth for different types of cancer.

Also on the list are different doses and forms of Sitagliptin and Linagliptin (5 mg), which are used with other medications to lower blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Medicines for mental illnesses that are now VAT-exempt are Clomipramine Hydrochloride (25 mg), used to treat symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder; Chlorpromazine (200 mg), used to manage and treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and acute psychosis; and Midazolam (15 mg), used for inducing sleepiness and easing anxiety before surgery or other procedures.

Cancer med delisted

The FDA, however, removed Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (5000 IU) as a VAT-exempt cancer medicine, saying that it is used for “treatment of anovulatory infertility or oligo-ovulatory and superovulation in women, and treatment of hypogonadism, cryptorchism, and delayed puberty associated with insufficient gonadotropic pituitary function in males. Hence, it is not classified as a treatment for cancer and shall be delisted from the subject list.”

The listed medicines were in addition to the more than 2,000 drugs indicated for the prevention and management of diabetes, hypertension, cancer, high cholesterol, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, and kidney diseases, which were exempted from VAT under Republic Act No. 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or Train Act, and RA 11534, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

A searchable database of all the “VAT-Exempt Health Products” can be accessed at verification.fda.gov.ph.