NEEDED: COMPREHENSIVE PHARMA AND HEALTHCARE REFORM
GOV'T, PRIVATE STAKEHOLDERS RENEW CALL FOR MEDICINES ACCESS

Senator Mar Roxas yesterday said the joint Trade and Health Committees of the Senate will look into crafting a comprehensive reform package for the healthcare sector to ensure access by the public to quality and affordable medicines.

This, as stakeholders from both the government and the private sector renewed their call and advocacy for the enactment of the amendments to the Intellectual Property Code and other measures to provide access to affordable medicines.

"We will apply a holistic approach, a comprehensive response to the problem of exorbitantly-priced medicines and a healthcare system inaccessible to the common Filipino," Roxas, chairman of the Senate Trade Committee, said.

"Bukod sa amendments sa Intellectual Property Code, susuriin din namin ang iba pang kinakailangang hakbang para magkaroon tayo ng de-kaledad at abot-kayang gamot at serbisyong pangkalusugan," he added.

He said that aside from the urgent need to reform the Intellectual Property Code to provide flexibilities to the government as far as healthcare is concerned, the joint committees will look into other measures such as:

• Tightening loopholes in the Generics Act;
• Strengthening the Bureau of Food and Drugs;
• Reviewing the charter of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation;
• Reviewing and amending the Pharmacy Law;
• Ensuring that the programs of the Department of Health, BFAD, PITC and other government agencies are coordinated to have the most impact; etc.

Senator Pia Cayetano, who heads the Senate Health Committee, said a comprehensive approach is needed in order to enhance the capacity of all government agencies involved in providing healthcare to the public.

"For example, BFAD has been asking for an increased budget. Madaling sabihin na dagdagan yung budget na 'yan, but if we include provisions that say BFAD will have processing centers in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, then hindi na tayo puwedeng balikan ng pharmaceuticals [companies] na kulang ang BFAD," she stressed.

Roxas yesterday presided over the first in a series of marathon hearings on affordable medicines bills yesterday, together with the Senate Health and Demography Committee.

He said that during the hearing, the committee was able to establish again that prices of medicines in the Philippines are much more expensive compared to those in other similarly-situated countries, such as India, Pakistan and Thailand.

Stakeholders have similarly put forward the need for a comprehensive approach to the problem of expensive medicines and an ailing Filipino public.

In its position paper, the World Health Organization said "a sound policy for access to medicines comprises a mixture of varying instruments that would ensure that the components of the access framework must be in place." The components of the access framework are affordable prices, rational drug use, sustainable financing, reliable supply and management system, and quality. WHO likewise expressed its support to the approval of the IP Code amendments.

The Departments of Health and of Trade and Industry likewise voiced their call not only for amendments to the IP code but for other health reform initiatives such as strengthening the BFAD and the Generics Act, among others.

WHO, DOH and DTI, however, made serious reservations against proposals to impose direct price control on medicines.

Usec. Alexander Padilla of DOH said during the hearing that price control is too complex a matter, and is better as the object of separate legislation rather than included in the proposed IP code amendments. He further said the matter should be studied as a component of the existing price act. He added that members of the regulated industry should not be part of the regulatory board.

Advocacy groups such as the Ayos na Gamot sa Abot-Kayang Presyo also renewed their call for adopting the TRIPS flexibilities immediately. In its paper, AGAP cited that the Philippine's total healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 3.3% in 2001, yet other less developed countries like Malta and Tonga spend much more for their people.

Associations of midwives (The Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines) and nurses (Philippine Nurses Association)frontliners in providing healthcare to the publicalso renewed their support to the Roxas bill and stressed the need for such a holistic approach.

Roxas said that of paramount focus of the committee is the interest of the general public in need of quality healthcare and affordable medicines. He added no amount of lobbying will prevent the Senate from doing its work.

Roxas filed Senate Bill 101, which is virtually the same bill that had been certified urgent by the President and had been passed by the Senate in the 13th Congress. However, the House failed to pass its counterpart bill and the measure went back to square one.

Senate Bill No. 101 seeks to amend the Intellectual Property Code to adopt the "international exhaustion" doctrine in order to allow the parallel importation of more affordable medicines from abroad.

It also seeks to adopt the "early working" doctrine to allow generics manufacturers to begin experimentation, production and registration of drugs prior to expiry of patents. The bill also prevents patent holders from extending their patents on frivolous grounds such as the discovery of a "new use."

Lastly, the bill grants the government discretion in use of patents when public health is at stake, and provides a framework for government use and compulsory licensing, with adequate compensation to the patent holder.