Some 120 medicines may be subjected to maximum drug retail prices—if the Office of the President would stamp its approval to a recommendation of the Department of Health to have these medicines fall under an Executive Order.
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“We have about 120 to 124 medicines subject to a possible or probable maximum drug retail price,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told the “In Focus” news forum in Quezon City on Saturday.
“We are drafting an executive order, which we will submit to the Office of the President,” Duque said.
Earlier, Duque said the 120 drugs that might be subjected to MDRP covered those that address hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, neonatal diseases, and major cancers.
Under the maximum retail price scheme, prices of selected medicines are expected to have a mean price reduction of 56 percent from the prevailing market prices once an EO is signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“This is a very important component of the Universal Health Care Law, we need to bring down prices of very expensive drugs and medicines. You know, branded medicines in the Philippines are like 30 to 70 times higher of the same product of the same brand in other countries,” Duque said.
“This is not acceptable for a middle-income country like the Philippines. We should ensure that people will have access to quality medicines,” he added.
The Health chief said the cost of medicines and treatment for chronic illnesses were a “very effective poverty converter.”
“You will be an indigent overnight that is why we really need to bring it down. This is the only agenda that we have is to make more accessible and bring down the price barriers to quality medicines,” Duque said.
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