Drug industry made a killing in ’11

The Philippine pharmaceutical industry managed to recover last year with a growth of 2.29 percent to P126.04 billion, from the previous year’s negative growth of 21 percent.

According to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), the industry’s recovery last year was driven largely by national companies and providers of generic medicine.

The trend is likely to continue this year, as “familiar products lose their patents and as generic medicines take the place of originator brands among physicians, pharmacists and patients,” said PHAP president Carlito M. Realuyo.

Citing analysts, Realuyo said that the future of the global and Philippine pharmaceutical markets are now “less certain as a consequence of patent cliff and constant pressures related with cost containment initiatives by both the private and public sectors.”

Despite this scenario, PHAP and its 44 members will continue to push for universal healthcare that is envisioned to “provide every Filipino the highest possible quality of healthcare regardless of one’s economic status,” said Realuyo, who is also general manager for Sanofi-Aventis.

As the newly named president of PHAP, Realuyo has committed to continue the close collaborations and partnerships with the government and stakeholders as they push forward quality healthcare for all.

In particular, the group’s members have taken on the challenge to find better preventive and treatment options for diseases, despite the increasing risks and costs of research and development.

Meanwhile, PHAP executive director Reiner Gloor emphasized that the organization would continue to lead the campaign for ethical marketing and promotion of pharmaceutical products in light of recent legislation that seeks to improve transparency and accountability in the industry.

Apart from the enforcement of the internationally aligned PHAP Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, the organization is also supporting the adoption of the “Mexico City Principles for Voluntary Codes of Business Ethics in the Biopharmaceutical Sector” recently endorsed during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) CEO Summit.

PHAP is also gearing towards partnerships aimed at helping the country achieve its health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Gloor added.