By Federico D. Pascual Jr.

BICAM BICKERINGS Rep. Ferjenel Biron of Iloilo has been vociferously criticizing the bill on cheaper medicines being consolidated by the bicameral conference committee co-chaired by Sen. Mar Roxas and Rep. Antonio Alvarez of Palawan.

Some of Biron’s colleagues are puzzled by his behavior considering that he is one of the principal authors of the Cheaper Medicines Bill in the House and a member of the bicam committee ironing out conflicting provisions.

They should not be surprised at his being touchy about pricing. His family owns Philippine Pharmawealth Inc., reportedly the subject of past Health department suspension orders for allegedly selling/supplying cheap but substandard medicines.

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TROJAN HORSE Biron lashed out at some colleagues for opting for price regulation through the Health Secretary and the Office of the President rather than by an unwieldy price regulatory board with members from the private sector.

The congressman, who is a doctor, said removing the price board would water down the bill. But with pricing safeguards already built into it, I don’t see why a Trojan horse of a regulatory board should still be there.

I asked Roxas about Biron’s concerns. The senator explained that, first of all, there was a majority sense in the bicam committee that the principal mechanism for bringing down the price is a free market.

They anticipate greater market competition once more affordable medicines come in from abroad through parallel importation, a key provision in the proposed law.

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ACCOUNTABILITY What if free market forces fail to curb overpricing of medicines, especially those for serious illnesses? The legislators have agreed that, just to make sure, a mechanism for price regulation should be written into the bill.

The Senate panel favors a two-step process: the Secretary of Health studies which drugs must have their retail price regulated, with the final decision resting on the President. Roxas said majority of the House contingent in bicameral discussions agreed.

“The point here is accountability,” he said. “A board, whether it’s composed of three or five or even more members, diffuses the decision-making process.”

He added: “A board decision is never clear-cut, it’s never arithmetically neat. And so it’s important that at the end of the day, somebody says, ‘I’ve taken everything into account. Now this is my decision.’”

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DELICADEZA The antics of Brion only reminds us of his family’s involvement in the drugs business.

In April 2000, the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, bought 500 ampules of methylergometrine maleate from the Brions’ Pharmawealth.

By Aug. 10, 2000, 16 resident doctors led by Dr. Virgilia Redulla, a department head, wrote an observation that the medicine supplied by Pharmawealth caused the death of Prescilla Galao (June 5, 2000) and the performance of emergency hysterectomies on Anita Buslon (June 11-20, 2000), Eulalia Curay (June 13-20, 2000), Bambini Briones (July 19-25, 2000) and Trifonia Lanzaderas (July 26-Aug. 4, 2000).

If only out of delicadeza, maybe Brion should leave the bicam committee.

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TEDDY’S TIRADE Earlier, Makati congressman Teodoro Locsin, another member of the House panel, also assailed some senators whom he did not identify for pushing a “watered-down” version of the bill.

Locsin said: “The field of freedom must be watered with the blood of tyrants, just like the meadow of public health must be fertilized with the torn bodies of the usual corrupt senators in the pockets of multinationals.”

He wanted the drug price regulatory board and the generics-only provision put back into the proposed law. The removal of those features, he said, had “drastically and significantly” weakened the bill.

The real questions are: Which version of the bill is actually being pushed by the drugs cartel? Who is cashing in on the lobby?

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INTERVENTION The industry sold around P85 billion worth of drugs in 2006. There is no compelling reason for the major players to cut their profits unless forced to by the competition — or by law.

With drugs crucial to the basic issue of health and human life, at some point the government should step in to democratize access to cheaper medicines.

Under the bill, the country will recognize the international exhaustion principle, which says that once a product has been introduced anywhere in the world by the patent owner, anyone may then buy and import it for resale locally without patent infringement.

The medicine’s price in the Philippines will be influenced by its price in other countries. Look at these sample comparative prices:

• Norvasc priced at P44.75 in the Philippines, sells for the equivalent of P5 in India.
• Bactrim 400, priced at P17.75 per tablet in the Philippines, sells for the equivalent of P1 in Pakistan, and 69 centavos in India.
• Ventolin, P406 in the Philippines, sells for the equivalent of P231 in Thailand.

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SOCIAL JUSTICE Roxas has been at the forefront of the campaign for cheaper medicines since he was Secretary of Trade.

His brother, Dinggoy, died of cancer at 32 while serving as a member of Congress. That episode had made Roxas ever conscious of the role of public health and the need for affordable medicines.

He said: “When someone you love dies, it’s not political or economic, it’s personal. But for the poorest of the poor — those who could have saved a loved one if only they had the money — it goes beyond what is personal. It goes straight to the question of social justice.”

Postscripts/The Philippine Star

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