PHM-Exch> Philippines seeks further drug price cuts (2)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: HEAD Philippines headphil at gmail.com

The actual value afforded by these 50% price reductions, if any, can be
better appreciated if one considers two important factors not mentioned in
the article. First is that big pharmaceutical companies have been having
their way with monopoly pricing of their products for more than four decades
in the Philippines. The exorbitant drug prices can be traced to unbridled
profiteering through unbelievable mark-ups.



Second, the formula used by the Philippine government to display its 50%
price reduction actually takes into consideration the interests of these
drug companies. Specifically, the price reduction is based on the highest
price of the branded version!



Take Amlodipine, for example, which is the showcase drug of government’s
imposed Maximum Retail Price (MRP). Pfizer was selling the branded-version,
Norvasc 5mg, for Php 44.75 in the Philippines but was selling the same
Norvasc 5mg for an equivalent of Php 26.65 and Php 21.00 in Thailand and
Indonesia, respectively.



With the Philippine government’s 50% price reduction, Norvasc 5mg will now
sell for Php 22.40. Yet the generic Amlodipine 5 mg sells for only Php 6.50.
This means that despite the price reduction, Pfizer is still making a huge
profit by selling its product for more than 3 times the price of its generic
counterpart!



The Philippine experience has already shown that drug price control can be
done if there is sufficient pressure and public outcry. However, pressure is
still necessary for price control to be more meaningful. Against a backdrop
of a highly monopolized pharmaceutical industry and a populace too poor to
buy the medicine they need, both drug price control and regulation of the
industry are social imperatives.



There is much to be done if we are to achieve affordable, accessible and
effective medicine for the Filipino people. A necessary step is
the dismantling of the stranglehold of big transnational pharmaceutical
corporations on the Philippine drug industry.


On 1/21/10, Claudio Schuftan <cschuftan at phmovement.org> wrote:
>
>
> From: Meghana Bahar meghana at haiap.org
>
> The Philippines’ government has announced a second round of pharmaceutical
> price cuts, and is asking drug majors for “voluntary” reductions of up to
> 50%......
>
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