MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Health is “working on” another round of drug price cuts before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term ends next June, according to DoH Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
However, Cabral said, they were “not making any promises.”
The first two rounds of voluntary price reductions by some 20 local pharmaceutical companies covered over 200 types [...]
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Health is “working on” another round of drug price cuts before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term ends next June, according to DoH Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
However, Cabral said, they were “not making any promises.”
The first two rounds of voluntary price reductions by some 20 local pharmaceutical companies covered over 200 types of drugs and health care products sold in drug stores and hospital pharmacies nationwide.
Dr. Robert Louie So, head of the DoH’s National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management, said his office’s “initiatives in bringing down the prices of medicines do not stop.”
Meanwhile, a study conducted late last year by the non-government Center for Legislative Development (CLD) showed that despite drug price cuts of 50 to 70 percent, the Arroyo administration’s “access to cheap medicines” program benefited mainly the middle class and not the poor—its intended beneficiaries.
Read the full story by Jerry Esplanada
In the Philippines, the prices of at least 97 medicines to treat cancer, asthma and other common conditions will be reduced by 50% on average on March 31, saving patients at least 1 billion pesos ($22 million) a year, the government has said.
11 pharmaceutical manufacturers have agreed to cut their prices in this latest [...]
In the Philippines, the prices of at least 97 medicines to treat cancer, asthma and other common conditions will be reduced by 50% on average on March 31, saving patients at least 1 billion pesos ($22 million) a year, the government has said.
11 pharmaceutical manufacturers have agreed to cut their prices in this latest round of reductions, which will range from 14% to 72%.
The new round will bring the total number of medicines whose prices have fallen since last August to 200, accounting for around 12%-15% of the total market for essential drugs.
As well as cancer and asthma, the medicines included in the new round of cuts include treatments for hypertension, glaucoma, bladder and prostate conditions, hepatitis and mental health problems. They include a 50% price drop (from 202 pesos to 101 pesos per tablet) for Merck & Co/Schering-Plough’s cholesterol-lowerer Vytorin (ezetimibe and simvastatin), AstraZeneca’s cancer drug Zoladex (goserelin), which goes down from 10,400 pesos per 3.6mg injectable solution to 6,800 pesos, and the antihypertensive losartan, down from 43 pesos to 22 pesos.
The prices of some fluids for dialysis and other medical supplies will also be reduced, and older people will receive a further 20% discount on the prices of their medicines under the new Expanded Senior Citizens’ Law.
Most of the medicines involved are newer products, and which have disproportionately higher prices in the Philippines than elsewhere in the region, say government officials.
Read full article here by Lynn Taylor
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