‘Slash cost of medicine by importing cheap drugs’

[grabehbebe]

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http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?...1_april03_2006
By Macon Ramos Araneta

A HOUSE committee is seeking to lower the cost of medicine in the Philippines, where life-saving drugs are some of the most expensive, to prevent many poor Filipinos from dying of curable diseases.

Rep. Ferjenel Biron of Iloilo, vice chairman of the House committee on health, says the government should make medicine more affordable and accessible to the poor by importing cheap but high-quality drugs.

Multinational firms and the big drugstores are monopolizing the distribution of drugs and dictating their prices, he says. But he’s confident that his committee would come out soon with a report on House Bill 3830, which he authored and which aims to lower medicine prices through a Drug Rehabilitation Board.

“It’s time we end the suffering of our people—especially those who die of their illness because they could not afford to buy medicine,� he says.

Biron and party-list AnWaray Rep. Florencio Noel, a member of the House committee on trade, are supporting the efforts of the state-owned Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to import inexpensive but high-quality medicine and other pharmaceutical products.

Biron says the PITC needs support to stop distribution and pricing monopolies and to bring down the cost of life-saving drugs including amlodipine besylate.

“If the intention of PITC is to find a way to make amlodipine besylate affordable to everyone, my support is 100 percent,� says Noel.

He and Biron say the medicine being sold in the country are controlled by multinationals, and that the prices they charge here are much higher than those they charge in India and Pakistan.

Roberto Pagdanganan, the PITC secretary, says the antihypertension medicine Norvasc is being sold in the country at P44.75 per 5 mg tablet and at P74.57 per 10 mg tablet, compared with P5.98 and P8.96, respectively, in Pakistan.

“They are trying to rake in too much profit at the expense of the Filipinos,� Pagdanganan says.

[dagget]

ang pangutana is........

Unsa pa man atong gi dugay-dugay??

[mingscians]

2015 na wala pa rin ni.

[30121895]

The Standard | Latest News in the Philippines
By Macon Ramos Araneta

A HOUSE committee is seeking to lower the cost of medicine in the Philippines, where life-saving drugs are some of the most expensive, to prevent many poor Filipinos from dying of curable diseases.

Rep. Ferjenel Biron of Iloilo, vice chairman of the House committee on health, says the government should make medicine more affordable and accessible to the poor by importing cheap but high-quality drugs.

Multinational firms and the big drugstores are monopolizing the distribution of drugs and dictating their prices, he says. But he’s confident that his committee would come out soon with a report on House Bill 3830, which he authored and which aims to lower medicine prices through a Drug Rehabilitation Board.

“It’s time we end the suffering of our people—especially those who die of their illness because they could not afford to buy medicine,� he says.

Biron and party-list AnWaray Rep. Florencio Noel, a member of the House committee on trade, are supporting the efforts of the state-owned Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) to import inexpensive but high-quality medicine and other pharmaceutical products.

Biron says the PITC needs support to stop distribution and pricing monopolies and to bring down the cost of life-saving drugs including amlodipine besylate.

“If the intention of PITC is to find a way to make amlodipine besylate affordable to everyone, my support is 100 percent,� says Noel.

He and Biron say the medicine being sold in the country are controlled by multinationals, and that the prices they charge here are much higher than those they charge in India and Pakistan.

Roberto Pagdanganan, the PITC secretary, says the antihypertension medicine Norvasc is being sold in the country at P44.75 per 5 mg tablet and at P74.57 per 10 mg tablet, compared with P5.98 and P8.96, respectively, in Pakistan.

“They are trying to rake in too much profit at the expense of the Filipinos,� Pagdanganan says.

Basin gebaligya nani nga state owned company.