Philippine moves to lower drug prices

Philippine parliamentarians are pushing the passage of new legislation that seeks to arrest the runaway prices of medicines. Two committees at the House of Representatives are speeding up deliberations on several bills that will bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals, reports the Manila Standard Today newspaper.

The committee on trade and industry, chaired by Rep Junie Cua of Quirino, and the committee on health, which is headed by Antonio Yapha of Cebu (third district), are seeking to find out how a multinational company managed to corner the sale of medicines, thus preventing the state-owned Philippine International Trading Corp from importing cheap but quality medicines.

The congressmen pressed for government intervention through the enactment of a law that would regulate, if not lower, the prices of drugs on the local market. South Cotabato Rep Arthur Pingoy Jr (second district) cited supplies conducted by the National Drug Policy Program of the Department of Health and research by non-government organization showing that prices of drugs and pharmaceutical products in the country are among the highest in Asia, says the newspaper.