United for affordable drugs

By Alvin Capino

Manila Standard – February 22, 2007

A few months back, millions of ailing Filipinos celebrated the entry of a highly affordable treatment for hypertension, an event which marked their liberation from the expensive but erstwhile only available drug for their ailment.

I could not help joining the cheering, like the rest of our colleagues in media who saw the determined efforts by government officials to alleviate the suffering of some 17.5 million hypertensive Filipinos, many of whom die not because of the sickness but because they cannot afford the cost of the medicine. This is a fact enunciated by no less than the highly respected Filipino cardiologist and current Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

As this column predicted, the anti-hypertension treatment called Amvasc started a subtle medicine price war. The medicine, made by Filipino pharmaceutical firm United Laboratories, sold at a fraction of the dominant brand, forcing the latter’s maker to give discounts to hypertensive patients. It was hailed as a Filipino victory.

The victory had been preceded by a bitter fight between the Philippine International Trading Corp. and multinational giant Pfizer.

The latter sued the trading firm’s Obet Pagdanganan after he pursued the so-called parallel importation of cheaper version of Pfizer drugs from India. Obet had wanted to bring in some Pfizer products from that country which sold in India at a small fraction of their Philippine prices. Pfizer slapped Obet with suits in the process.

Some quarters thought Pfizer may have dealt the Filipinos crusade for cheaper medicine a serious blow following the legal action. But it is heartening to note that such is not the case. It seems the threat of legal action has simply emboldened the Filipino resolve to have affordable but equally effective medicine available to their sick compatriots.

Recently, the Senate passed the Mar Roxas bill for affordable medicine, bringing the crusade a step closer to the fulfillment of the Filipino aspiration.

As I write this column, Congress is attempting to pass its version—House Bill 6035—of the Roxas bill. The final push was supposed to have taken place Monday and Tuesday of this week during the special session called by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. We hope it did.

But whatever the fate of House Bill 6035 may have been, it must be said that this is one piece of legislation that has united Filipinos. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Junie Cua, chair of the House committee on trade and industry. It is co-sponsored by party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros Baraquel.

The sponsorship of the bill alone proves it has the backing of most, if not all, sectors in our society, whether one calls them left or right or center. Former Senator Wigberto Tañada, son of nationalist Lorenzo Tañada, heads one of the many non-government organizations pushing for the passage of the Cua-Baraquel bill.

The Senate and House bills both want to allow the parallel importation of cheaper patented medicines and to prevent pharmaceutical firms from issuing new patents for new uses of existing drugs. If passed into law, the bills would make it easier for the development of generic versions of pricy patented medicines.

The bottom line: Medicine within the reach of average Filipinos.

Nobody stands in the way of a cause like this, unless one is basically anti-Filipino. And it appears there are a few whose loyalty, we have to suspect, is to their wallet.

Over the weekend, there were talks in coffee shops where our media colleagues huddle that there could be an effort to prevent the Cua-Baraquel bill from being passed during the special session.

Apparently, the suspected effort may have been at play even while the bill was trying to make it through the various phases of the legislative process. Our fellow media practitioners shared information that some lawmakers appeared to have caused delays and postponements in plenary discussions, instigated a lack of quorum and engaged proponents in endless interpellation.

I asked our friends covering the House of Representatives to ferret out the names of the congressmen who were alleged to have taken part in the derailment bid against the Cua-Baraquel bill. The public deserves to know who they are. If names are named at the appropriate time, it would not be to pillory them, but to encourage them to explain to their constituents why they appear to have opposed the bill for affordable medicine.

We shall also duly recognize lawmakers who have actively pushed this bill in the halls of congress despite the reported strong lobby against it. We can only think of two words to describe them: true Filipinos.

Indeed, the fight for affordable medicine has united Filipinos in a quiet way. Despite the absence of fanfare, the heroic attempt at parallel importation, the introduction of Amvasc, and the introduction of the Roxas and Cua-Baraquel bills must be hailed as triumphs of the Filipino.

It is possible the Cua-Baraquel bill may not have made it through during the special session. The “makapilis” who allowed themselves to be used by giant interests to derail it would then have some reason to celebrate.

But let them not forget that the Filipino is an unrelenting fighter.

For sure, the cause will remain alive until we have that law that removes the virtual “death sentence” imposed on sick Filipinos by the regime of expensive patented drugs.