PHAP to work with gov’t to make medicines affordable

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) vows to continue working with the competition watchdog in ensuring a level playing field in the pharmaceutical industry to make medicines affordable.

The private sector group, in a statement on Wednesday, said it “shares the goal of the government to ignite competition in the pharmaceutical industry as the primary means to lower medicine prices.”

PHAP is optimistic that the country could become a regional hub for the biopharmaceutical sector with the help of the current administration.

“A vibrant biopharmaceutical industry creates benefits beyond health such as employment, investments and revenues for the government that are crucial for the Philippines to achieve its goal of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2024,” it said.

Along with this, PHAP said it would continue working with the government to ensure sufficient supply of medicine in the country.

Anticompetitive practices

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) had pledged to crack down on cartels and other entities engaged in anticompetitive practices to ensure more affordable and accessible medicines for the public.

This was in response to President Marcos’ call for cheaper drugs during his first State of the Nation Address on Monday.

PCC officer in charge-chair Johannes Bernabe had also stressed the need to ramp up production of cheaper, generic medicines.

A 2020 PCC study showed that a certain painkiller in the Philippines costs 14 times more than in India and four times more than in Indonesia.