Saturday, December 15, 2007 Pabling: I’m for cheaper meds bill
IF THE goal of the Cheaper Medicines Bill is to be pro-poor, then the consolidated bill pending before the 14th Congress should be amended because it favors multinational pharmaceutical companies instead, a Cebuano lawmaker said.
Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu Province, 2nd district) clarified yesterday that he is not out to block the passage of the consolidated bill at the Lower House.
“I am one of those in favor of the bill, but I want to improve it,” he told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
His principal objection to House Bill 2844, he added, is that there are provisions that tend to side with the multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Parallel importation
“Why are we trying to argue for them? Let them complain later on,” Garcia said. The congressman has said he favors parallel importation of both patented and off-patent drugs, as well as amending the Intellectual Property Code.
The present law allows government importations of patented drugs if public interest so requires.
One provision of the bill that the former governor opposes is that a national emergency must be declared for patents to be exploited in the interest of public health or nutrition.
One of the bill’s more controversial provisions concerns mandatory generic prescription. Doctors face a fine or suspension if they fail to write prescriptions using only the drug’s generic name. Doctors’ associations have warned this could endanger patients, if they get drugs with the same generic name but which are less potent.
Drug price board
The bill also seeks the creation of a Drug Price Regulation Board that can control the prices of vaccines, as well as medicines needed to manage diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension.
Garcia earlier felt alluded to in statements by the bill’s principal author, Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, and Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez, chairman of the committee that consolidated the 23 bills seeking to lower the price of medicines, that one congressmen is trying to block the passage of the bill.
Manila-based broadsheets have quoted House Speaker Jose de Venecia as saying he intends to have the bill passed on third reading before Congress goes on its Christmas break on Dec. 21.
Garcia noted that some provisions are in compliance with the Doha Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. Provisions should be according to the country’s standards and needs, rather than international requirements, he added.
Other conditions introduced in the bill allow experimental use without affecting any privileges of the patent-holder. “This is unheard of and demeaning,” he said.
Emphasizing the need to make the bill more effective and more pro-poor, the congressman said: “I could have taken it easy but now that I’m here (in Congress) I have to do whatever I can. I would rather be right than be popular.” (JGA)
