[Ip-health] (no subject)

[Rohit Malpani]

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Drop case vs. PITC, Pfizer urged

By Cher Jimenez and Max de Leon
Reporters

USERS of Pfizer's Norvasc, an anti-hypertension medicine, on Tuesday
asked the Makati Regional Trial Court that they be allowed to intervene
in the case filed by the company against the government over the
importation of the medicine from India.

Norvasc users, together with some civil society groups and Oxfam
International, also called on Pfizer to withdraw the case it filed
against the Philippine International Trade Corp. (PITC), saying that the
lawsuit is an effort to "bully" the government from providing cheaper
medicines in the market.

The company sued PITC and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (Bfad) for
importing the antihypertension drug from India, saying that this is a
violation of its intellectual property rights.

The Norvasc users however said the government was not violating any law
because the parallel importation was only meant to conduct tests for the
production of a cheaper version of Norvasc as its patent is set to
expire in June next year.

"The patients have the right to intervene in the case because of their
compelling need for a cheaper generic version of the drug. Intellectual
property rights, even as defined by the WTO (World Trade Organization),
in areas where public health is involved should balance the monopoly
rights of the patent owner and those who need the drug for therapeutic
purposes. Intervention is the only way to make the government agencies
accountable to the public," said Marvic Leonen, the petitioners'
counsel.

In a statement, Oxfam International reminded the US-based company that
the Philippine government's action is consistent with the Doha
declaration on patents five years ago that says intellectual property
rules are not superior to public health and that governments should
ensure that prices of medicines are within the reach of patients.

"The declaration allows the people of developing countries to have
access to cheaper generic versions of patented medicines. Generic
competition is the most sustainable way to keep the price of medicines
down," said Oxfam.

Jessica Soto, executive director of Amnesty International-Pilipinas, a
Norvasc user and one of those who petitioned the lower court, said even
those with a regular income could not afford to take the medicine which
costs P44.75 per five-milligram tablet on a regular basis. In India, the
price for Norvasc is P8.74 a piece.

A number of Filipino doctors prescribe Norvasc for hypertension, one of
the leading causes of illnesses and deaths in the country.

Romeo Divinagracia, a cardiologist and former president of the
Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) said there has yet to be an
effective antihypertension drug as amlodipine besylate (Norvasc) which
has been tested in over 800 clinical trials involving 400,000 patients.

The PITC will spend up to P1 billion next year for the importation of
cheaper generic and off-patent medicines in the hope of making a bigger
dent in the domestic market that is dominated by branded drugs.

Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan, PITC chairman, told reporters that the
importation next year will be a lot bigger that this year's P700 million
importation of generic and off-patent medicines.

He said the PITC is looking at increasing the market share of generic
and off-patent medicines to about 7 percent next year from the current 4
percent.

By 2010, Pagdanganan said the target is to further increase this market
share to 50 percent under the administration's "Half-Priced Medicines
Program."

"The importation of medicine is a big component of our drive to bring
down the prices of medicine and make them affordable to Filipinos,
especially in the countryside," Pagdanganan said.

The other major components, he said, are a better information
dissemination campaign and establishment of more drug stores carrying
cheaper generic and off-patent branded medicines.

Currently, Pagdanganan said, Filipinos still largely prefer branded
medicines because of the strong marketing campaign of multinational
companies that it is safer to use them than the generic ones.

The PITC imports medicines mostly from India, and Pakistan, where the
price is many times cheaper than in the Philippines because of the
strong competition there, price control imposed by their governments and
their bigger markets that bring better economies of scale.

An international organization meanwhile pushed for the speedy enactment
of Senate Bill 2263 to greatly reduce the prices of medicine in the
country, as it ensures the introduction of affordable generic medicines
upon the expiration of particular drug patents, according to the
international civic group Oxfam.

Shalimar Vitan, Oxfam local policy advocacy coordinator, said that SB
2263, authored by Sen. Mar Roxas II, is a welcome amendment to Republic
Act 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the
Philippines, which is a "threat to the public health in the country."

"[The Roxas] bill would incorporate well-recognized public health
safeguards into the Philippines' intellectual property law to reduce the
cost of patented medicines, and ensure the immediate introduction of
affordable and inexpensive generic medicines upon patent expiry," Vitan
said.

He noted that generic competition is the only proven method that
effectively reduces prices of medicines. These safeguards have been
implemented in many other countries, and are permitted under the World
Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights Agreement.

"The clock is ticking and time is running out. The local elections fever
in 2007 is approaching and before we know it, the legislators are
already preparing for their reelection," he said.

Among others, Vitan said the bill, when enacted into law, would give
protection to the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC)
when it brings in cheaper medicines from other countries through
parallel importation even with the opposition of pharmaceutical
companies.

Earlier, Pfizer sued the PITC and the Bureau of Food and Drugs for
importing from India samples of the anti-hypertension drug, Norvasc that
Pfizer sells in both the Philippines, and India.

PITC bought the drug in India at the peso equivalent of P8.74 per five
milligram tablet and P17.09 per 10 mg tablet.

Prevailing prices of Norvasc is P44.75 per 5 mg tablet and P74.57 per 10
mg tablet. Some eight million Filipinos suffer from hypertension.

Oxfam sent its position paper to the Senate, outlining why the
amendments proposed in Senate Bill 2263 are legally permissible under
the TRIPS agreement.

"We hope the senators will immediately act upon this legislation before
the session ends this year," Vitan said.