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Philippines: House Of Representatives Approves Cheaper medicines Bill
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007 (GST)
11:50 am Manila, Philippines - The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to provide "cheaper medicines" to ...
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Manila, Philippines - The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to provide "cheaper medicines" to Filipinos.
House Bill 2844, which was earlier certified as "urgent" by the Arroyo administration, is expected to pave the way for the entry of inexpensive prescription drugs.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said the overwhelming approval to the measure disproved once and for all the notion that some congressmen have been lobbying to derail the long-awaited.
"I'm ecstatic. This is a bill whose impact will be tremendous on the Filipino people because it will bring down the high cost of medicines," said de Venecia.
"We have fully disproved that there is a strong lobby against the measure. The people's interest has clearly prevailed," he said.
Earlier, de Venecia said the House leadership was determined to approve the measure before Congress goes on recess starting December 21.
The bill is a priority legislation by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC). It is expected to result in new pricing schemes for both patented and off-patent medicines,
The measure calls for the establishment of a drug-price regulatory board that will set the maximum retail price of drugs or medicines. The board will ensure that the cheap medicines will have the same efficacy as the branded medicines.
The bill also includes a non-discriminatory or must-carry clause for parallel imported drugs or medicines.
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