Cheap medicine in the Philippines?
Many of us are under medication. A couple of months ago in Switzerland health activists and policy experts from around the world attended a World Health Organization Conference. Not only there, but in many other countries, especially from the Third World, discussions are ongoing about the best ways to get medicine to the world’s poor. The resulting recommendations should have a great impact on the healthcare programs of many governments - also here in the Philippines.
Some time ago in the Philippines, for instance, the congress considered a measure called the “Cheaper Medicines Bill’, which aims to a lower cost of medicines by weakening or revoking patents on drugs. Is this really a good idea?
As I could learn from Mindanao columnist Nonoy Oplas: “Only one percent of the medicines on the World Health Organization’s “Essential medicines” list are patented. The remaining 99 percent of drugs are off-patent and could be cheaply produced as generics.
I must confess, that after every doctor consultation I have been asked, WHICH is medicine I would like to take. Meanwhile all our doctors explained the possibility of generics - or, the pharmacies, where we used to buy our medicine, do so.
But, the real access problems are indeed systemic. Plenty of cheap generic drugs are available in the Philippines, but they are not the genuine article, as Nonoy Oplas stressed. How very true!!!
And, many of the generics are simply fake and do not pass the bioequivalence testing for safety. Some are not tested at all - as Dr. Suzette lazo of the University of the Philippines has said in an interview a couple of weeks ago. “In fact only a very small minority has undergone this testing!” Wow, how many dangerous consequences for all of us. Patented medicines go through perfect screening in order to guarantee their safety.
There are amounts being mentioned such as 800 million US$ to develop and bring out a new product to the market. Maybe it’s really a ‘miracle’ product - maybe not.
Now I, and not only me, feel puzzled and, we don’t know what to do.
Do you have any idea and how do you handle this problem here in the Philippines as an ex pat or ‘somewhere out there‘ reading this blog?
Good Day Klaus:
While some generic medications may not have the same bioequivalence as panted medications the thing that also needs to be considered is the source of the information. The drug companies and pharmacists both make a higher profit on the patterned meds than generic copies. It is in their best interest to say they are not as good and also to disseminate the information as they are not as good as patterned meds just from a profit margin perspective. In addition many MD’s get perks to recommend patterned meds. To deny that this i s common practice, is to deny that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. There are people that will tell you this, but it is not correct.
Am I saying that all generic meds are safe? No, absolutely not. However most are safer than many want you to believe.
Hi Klaus,
Whew!! A friend of mine who is a Doctor now told me its better to buy branded medicines rather than generics. It’s more safer and effective. have a nice day!
Cidz
Hi Wayne, thanks for your enlightened comment. I am pretty sure that we all can learn from it…
Hi Cidy, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the comment of your friend.
Hi Klaus,
Thanks for touching on a topic which can affect most of us - cheaper medicines.
Republic Act 9502, entitled “Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008″, or more known as the Cheaper Medicines Bill has recently been passed as part of Philippine laws.
I respectfully disagree with the “generic” idea (no pun intended
), that this law aims to revoke patents on drugs. Although, I would agree that this law can indeed weaken the monopolistic high pricing and huge profits by big multinational pharmaceutical companies operating in our country.
This new law allows parallel importation of patented medicines.
Before, under the Philippine patents law, parallel importation of patented medicine is deemed illegal and contrary to the monopoly or exclusive use right granted to the patent owner. This is true even if the same medicine is manufactured under license by the same patent owner to another entity in another county. Why? Price mainly. Parallel imports are cheaper than the branded ones sold here. (Generic medicines manufactured without license from subsisting patent owners because the country of origin does not have patent laws is another matter and can be subject of much debate. And note the operative word — “subsisting patents”.)
This new law prohibits the grant of new patents based only on newly discovered uses of a known drug substance. Why? Patent has already been granted to the same invention — an exclusive right to use it for 20 years from the filing date of the patent application. After 20 years, the patent protection for this invention expires and is automatically deemed by law as part of the public domain. This means the patented invention is now free to be used by all. Allowing new patent on newly discovered use for the same patented invention will mean giving another 20-year monopoly to the patent owner. This is contrary to public good and general welfare, and can be subject to abuse.
This new law allows local generics firms to test, produce, and register their generic versions of patented drugs so these can be sold right upon patent expiration. No surprise here. Expired patents on drugs can always be used by anyone legally. What is really needed is for the Philippine government to fully support and strengthen the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), so it can do its job of administering, regulating, and ensuring the safety and efficacy of the drugs before they are approved to be sold to the public. And if I may add, even as they are being sold to the public.
This new law allows the government use of patented drugs when the public interest is at stake. The law gives the President the power to impose price ceilings on various drugs, on the recommendation of the Secretary of Health. These drugs include those for chronic illnesses, for prevention of diseases, and those in the Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF) Essential Drug List. It will be interesting to see how this will be implemented by the Philippine government without contravening its obligations to several international treaties on intellectual property rights and trade agreements it had signed.
The discussions of affected doctors and other well informed bloggers are enlightening.
Klaus
With the high number of filapinos that are unable to afford there needed medication it is imperative that medication be as affordable as possible. Pharmaceutical companies have billions of dollars at stake so they will naturally try to perswade as many people as possible to extend the patens. With many fialpinos unable to afford medication it is better they take there chances on generic medication rather than to go without medication. This story reminds me of an article I read about cable TV companies when they started up years ago. The cable TV company came with propositions to the different cities that if the city council would sign an exclusive contract with the cable company they would bring there service to the city. The cable TV company cited that they needed to have the no compete clause to enable the company to deliver cable TV to there customers at a lower cost and provide better service. A comparison was made between 2 cities of the same size after 5 years. City A signed the no compete clause and city B would not and never did sign the clause. After 5 years the same company provided better service with more channels to city B that would not sign the clause and had competitors come into the city and also offer cable TV. Competition is good for the consumer and a 20 year paten is more than enough for pharmaceutical companies to recoup there research costs.
Hi I.M.. Schneider, thanks a lot for stopping by and thanks for sharing this valuable information with all of us. Indeed; the discussion of affected doctors and other bloggers is really enlightening.
Hi Larry, thank you very much also for dropping by. Yeah - I heard about your cable tv example. And you are right also; we observed that a lot of Filipinos go with generics instead without any medication. I had a discussion with three doctors a while ago, that’s why I put this post here. Thanks for your opinion.
Hi Klaus.
I will suggest to know your druggist(pharmacist) really well. Afterall, this is supposed to be their profession to make sure that what they dispense are potent medications, not just ’starch’ (tayubong). The druggist has the incentive to protect his name or his livelihood will suffer.
Also if you don’t know the local druggist, then stick to National Chain pharmacies like Mercury Drugs. It takes only one rumor to destroy this business so again they have the incentive that the drugs they are selling are real.
I will avoid the drugs given by the government i.e in the Municipal or City Health Departments. Those for sure are real suspects.
Errata…I’m talking about the generics not the brand names.
Hi Dr. Sponk Long, very interesting. Thanks for your comment. Actually we only buy in one Mercury drug branch near our place and the whole staff knows us very well.- Yeah, you are right with “the one and only rumor”, but since living in the Philippines I haven’t heard about any bad complain i.e. here in Davao City. Anyway, thanks for stopping by…