ROXAS: MEDICINES BILL FAST-TRACKED
WITH SELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
INDIA PATENT CASE VS PHARMA FIRM SHOWS WE ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Senator Mar Roxas said approval of the quality affordable medicines bill could be fast-tracked once the members of the Senate Committees on Trade and on Health are announced, most likely during this week.

"We're just waiting for the committees to be fully constituted, and then we'll start the hearings as soon as possible," he said.

Roxas, chairman of the Committee on Trade and Commerce in both the 13th and 14th Congresses, noted the bill had already been approved on 3rd reading in the last Congress after being subject to intense consultations and deliberations.

This, he said, could expedite deliberations in the present Congress. Nonetheless, he said he intends to conduct intensive hearings and have meaningful consultations with stakeholders and experts.

"Kailangan ng sinserong dayalogo sa mga stakeholder at mga eksperto para sigurado tayo na mabisa ang ipapasa nating batas. Ganito ang ginawa natin bilang sponsor at chairman ng komite noong huling Kongreso, at ganito rin ang gagawin natin ngayong ika-14 na Kongreso," he stressed.

Roxas filed Senate Bill No. 101, which is identical to the bill passed by the Senate on 3rd reading in the last Congress. The bill was actively co-sponsored by Senator Pia Cayetano, who retained leadership of the Committee on Health.

As in the 13th Congress, Roxas expects the bill to be supported unanimously by his colleagues and approved on third reading once more in the Senate.

"Sixteen senators, who were present in the 13th Congress, are already familiar with the elements of this bill. I am also confident that the rest are familiar with the contents of the bill, and would support it for the sake of the public." he said.

He noted that 11 of the 23 incumbent senators, including himself, are "hold-overs" from the previous Congress, and five have been reelected for a consecutive term. Furthermore, of the newly-elected senators, four were members of the House of Representatives in the House, and are also familiar with the bill. The remainder, he said, are three colleagues who are also of known compassion for the sake of ailing Filipinos.

He is also hopeful that the House will pass the bill this time around, as the House Speaker himself promised to have the bill passed immediately. He also noted that the President cited the bill in her State of the Nation Address as a priority measure to be pursued this Congress.

Senator Roxas said that the battle for flexibilities in patent laws on medicines is an international battle, which is winning in various fronts across the globe.

"In the international front, steps are being taken to make life-saving medicines affordable and available to all. We must not be left behind," Roxas said.

He said he was buoyed by an Indian court's recent decision to reject patent infringement claims by Novartis AG for its cancer medicine Glivec. The Swiss drug firm had filed its case last year assailing an Indian law banning patents for mere modifications to already existing drugs developed after 1995.

This case, he said, stressed the importance of his proposed amendment to the Intellectual Property Code preventing the mere "new use" of existing patented substances to warrant a new lease of "patent life." SB 101 will bar patent holders from renewing drug patents on the basis of mere "new use."

Aside from this, the bill provides a legal mechanism for the importation of cheaper drugs whose patents have not expired locally, otherwise known as parallel importation, already practiced among European Union nations, as well as Japan , Argentina , Cambodia , Thailand and Vietnam .

He also noted that attempts to do such in the United States , a known bailiwick of multinational pharmaceutical interests, are gaining ground, with the recent approval by the US House of Representatives of a bill effectively allowing the importation of cheaper medicines from abroad.

SB 101 also provides an "early working doctrine" where generic drug manufacturers are allowed to experiment, produce and register patented drugs even prior to expiration of their patents. This doctrine, he noted, has already led to significant price reductions in the US , Japan , Canada , Israel and Thailand .

Lastly, the bill seeks to give government discretion in use of patents when public health is at stake, providing for a framework for the just compensation of the patent holder.

Supporters of the bill include: various stakeholder groups such as the Ayos na Gamot sa Abot-Kayang Presyo (AGAP), the Cut the Cost, Cut the Pain Network (3CPNet), the Third World Network, among other civil society and people's groups; international organizations such as the World Health Organization and OXFAM International;

The local pharmaceutical industry, through the Philippine Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (PCPI) and the Drugstores Association of the Philippines (DSAP); as well as government agencies such as the Department of Health and the Department of Trade and Industry, the Intellectual Property Office, the Philippine International Trading Corp., among others.

The Liberal Party, to which the Senator belongs to, is also supporting the bill as a key measure in its "Affirmative Action Plan: Putting People First."