Benjie Oliveros | The Mighty Pharmaceutical Industry

Published on July 19, 2009

The law, which the Arroyo government refuses to implement, is even flawed and a mere palliative as it does not break the monopoly control of multinational pharmaceutical companies. Price control or setting the maximum retail price is merely a stopgap measure because it merely “regulates the greed” of multinational pharmaceutical companies without putting a stop to their monopoly pricing practices. Besides, it would only affect the small and medium-sized drugstores more than the multinational pharmaceutical companies as what is happening with the senior-citizen discount. The same is the case with the parallel importation of medicines with expired patents because it would still make the country dependent on imported medicines and, therefore, vulnerable to speculative attacks such as hoarding and price manipulation, which is common in international trade.

To make medicines affordable, the country should develop a national drug industry that would manufacture the medicines the people need. As a necessary first step, there is a need to restructure the patent system. India allowed only process patents on medicines and not on finished products. Thus, it enabled local drug manufacturers to produce the same medicines by analyzing it through reverse engineering then using a different process. With the flourishing of the local drug industry in India, medicines became affordable. A better measure is to shorten the duration of the patent and to require multinational pharmaceutical companies to transfer their technology to local companies. Second, the government could provide research and development and credit support, as well as tax incentives to local pharmaceutical manufacturers. Third, regulatory agencies should be strict in ensuring the quality of medicines being produced and sold in the market to build the confidence of the public.

However, these measures seem like a long shot considering the priorities of the Arroyo government. If the regime could not implement palliative measures and a flawed law, how could it implement strategic measures to develop a local drug industry? If the Arroyo government does not even try to moderate the greed of the oil cartel, how could we expect it to control the drug cartel? Clearly, the Arroyo government is on the side of multinational companies. It always cites deregulation, which it imposed itself, and the fear of losing foreign investors as reasons for not controlling multinational companies. The problem is, the Filipino people are the ones suffering. (Bulatlat.com)

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