MULTINATIONAL PHARMA MOVING TO CURTAIL AFFORDABLE MEDS LAW
ROXAS: "THEY'RE AFRAID OF THE LAW"

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today accused multinational pharmaceutical groups of moving heaven and earth to derail the Quality Affordable Medicines Law by lobbying for the Philippines' inclusion in the US intellectual property watch list.

Roxas said multinational drug companies are so afraid of losing their market share so much so that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced it has slashed its prices by 30 to 50 percent for holders of its discount cards.

"Natatakot kasi ang mga dambuhalang kumpanya ng gamot kaya tuloy-tuloy ang ang pagtatangka nilang hadlangan ang batas natin para sa murang gamot (The giant drug companies are scared to the bones, that's why they continue attempts to stop the cheap medicines law)," he said.

Roxas noted that Pfizer Philippines, Inc. had earlier attempted to masquerade its discount card for its highly-popular Norvasc drug as an answer to the Cheaper Medicines Law.

"Ang totoo ay pwede pala nilang bawasan ang presyo nila ng kalahati pero mas gusto nilang mas mahal ang gamot para may pang-gastos sila sa kanilang mga luho gaya ng mga party at mga pang-suhol sa mga doktor (The truth is they can reduce their prices by half, but they choose to sell their drugs at high prices so they can afford extravagant expenditures like parties and bribes for doctors)," he said.

Roxas said that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has started lobbying with the US Congress for the imposition of sanctions against the Philippines for alleged violation of property rights, supposedly as contained in the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act (RA 9502), which Roxas primarily authored. The said lobby group also asked US President Barack Obama to put the country on top of the US' priority watch list of intellectual property violators.

"Mahalaga ang kalusugan ng bawat isa sa atin. Ipaglaban natin ang pagkakaroon ng isang malusog na republika, kesyo magreklamo man ang mga Amerikanong kumpanya (Our people's health is important. We will fight for a healthy republic, and we shouldn't mind if American companies complain about it)," he said.

"Ngayon pa ba tayo magpapasindak? Sampung taon nating nilabanan ang monopolyo ng gamot sa ating bansa. Ngayon ay unti-unti na nating nararamdaman ang ating tagumpay (Now is not the time to be intimidated. We have fought against the pharma monopoly in our country for ten years already. Now, we're gradually tasting the fruits of our labor)," he stressed.

The new law relaxed patent rules and allowed the importation by the Philippine government, through the Department of Health and the Philippine International Training Corp., of less expensive drug versions as well as generics.

The Ilonggo senator vowed to put pressure on the DoH for it to immediately complete its list of essential medicines to be covered by the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) mechanism.