House tackles creation of regulatory board for cheaper medicines

MANILA, Philippines - Deliberations on House Bill 3252, which establishes a Drug Price Regulatory Board, have begun at the House of Representatives to strictly enforce the cheaper medicines law and make all types of drugs affordable to the poorest of the poor.   

The Malacañang-backed measure seeks to amend Republic Act 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, which has not fully achieved its objective, according to Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron.  

“We don’t have resources to compete with private interest. Thus, we need to use the power of the government to protect the poor,” Biron, chairman of the House committee on trade and industry and the bill’s principal author, said of the proposed law.  

“Without government intervention, we will continue to face the same situation wherein 30 percent of what we pay for medicines goes straight to the pocket of big drugstore chains. The only way for us to compete is to push for a regulatory board,” he asserted.  

Biron lamented that medicine prices remain prohibitive, thus, beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos. He also noted that since the enactment of the law, no other medicines were added to the original five formulations placed under mandatory price regulations. 

Price control through a regulatory board attached to the Department of Health, he firmly believes, is the only way to successfully bring down prices of medicines and make them affordable to everybody, not least the masses who need it the most. 

“As the principal author of RA 9502, I believe that our duty does not end after the bill has been signed into law. It is a matter of personal commitment on my part to see to it that it will actually redound to the benefit of the Filipino people,” he said. 

The doctor-lawmaker said no less than President Duterte understood and recognized the need and importance of the creation of the Drug Price Regulatory Board to reduce the prices of overpriced medicines in the country. 

Biron said they are conducting oversight committee hearings so that they can hear suggestions, contributions and comments on the viability of having such measure passed before the end of this year. 

Biron’s trade and industry committee, along with its counterpart committee in the Senate, has been deliberating on the bill and had a recent joint meeting of the oversight committees from both chambers. 

Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial has so far expressed willingness to implement Phase 2 of the maximum drug price, the list of medicines that should be covered under the drug price mandatory regulation while they are still waiting for the creation of the board.  

The Biron panel in the House has been undertaking a “comprehensive review” of the cheaper medicines law whose main objective was to make medicines accessible to all. Despite its nine-year effectivity, though, medicines have remained costly.