[Ip-health] Drug firms defend advocacy

[Intal - Wim De Ceukelaire]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_i=
d=3D51256
Drug firms defend advocacy



By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer


Posted date: February 23, 2007



MANILA, Philippines -- It is not a lobby, it is an advocacy.

This was how an official of the Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association of
the Philippines (PHAP) described the group=E2=80=99s interest in House Bill=
 No.
6035 which seeks to lower the prices of medicines in the country.

=E2=80=9CIt is not correct to say that PHAP is lobbying against the bill. I=
t is
engaged in an assertive advocacy because of the issues involved. Public
health is primary here, not the loss of profit,=E2=80=9D lawyer Noel Laman,=
 PHAP
spokesperson, said in a press conference.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday said it=E2=80=99s a waste of =
time
lobbying against measure =E2=80=9Cbecause that is a certified administratio=
n
measure."

The House of Representatives on Tuesday by voice voting House Bill No.
6035 known as the Cheaper Medicine Act of 2007.

The Senate approved its version of the bill before Congress went on
recess February 8. The House bill got bogged down on questions of quorum
and opposition from a few legislators.

Laman said that PHAP, an organization of major international drug
companies operating in the Philippines, was =E2=80=9Cnever opposed=E2=80=9D=
 to providing
Filipinos greater access to cheap medicines.

=E2=80=9CBut the PHAP insists that these cheap medicines must be of good
quality, [they] must be effective and most of all, safe,=E2=80=9D he said.

He added that Filipinos should be made aware that the prevalence of
bogus drugs in Southeast Asia =E2=80=9Chas reached alarming=E2=80=9D figure=
s.

Pfizer, meanwhile, denied media reports that they attempted to block the
passage of the proposed legislation.

In a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pfizer said
that during the special congressional session on February 20, which
included deliberations to amend the intellectual property code, the
pharmaceutical company had just one representative present among various
non-government organizations, government officials, public-interest
groups and members of the PHAP.

=E2=80=9CAs a leading pharmaceutical company, providing access to innovativ=
e
medicines to thousands of patients in the Philippines, Pfizer believes
it has a responsibility to participate actively in critical
deliberations pertaining to healthcare. Any suggestion that the company
acted in an untoward manner is simply untrue and contrary to Pfizer
values,=E2=80=9D Pfizer said.

The PHAP also stood by its lawyers, who were thrown out of the House of
Representative=E2=80=99s session hall last Wednesday after they slipped a n=
ote
to Makati Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr., asking him to question the
quorum while House Bill No. 6305 was being discussed on the floor.

Lawmakers threatened to take action against the PHAP lawyers.

=E2=80=9CThe lawyers were simply protecting the right of PHAP,=E2=80=9D Lam=
an said,
adding that there was apparently no quorum on the second day of the
Congress=E2=80=99 special session which had =E2=80=9Calarmed=E2=80=9D the P=
HAP lawyers.

=E2=80=9CWhy would only a handful of congressmen discuss and pass a measure=
 like
that?=E2=80=9D he noted.

The lawyers wrote that they =E2=80=9Cdesperately needed=E2=80=9D help to qu=
estion the
quorum.

=E2=80=9CIn fact, their concerns were valid. The bill was passed [on second
reading]. How are laws passed with [only] 15-20 congressmen
[deliberating on the floor]?=E2=80=9D Laman said.

He added that PHAP was particularly concerned about some amendments
inserted in the bill, such as the introduction of a price regulatory
board, which would in effect, control the maximum prices of goods.

=E2=80=9CPHAP believes that the House bill, in its present form, without an=
y
further amendments, without insertion of regulatory safeguard, will open
the floodgates for the importation of any and all kinds of medicines,=E2=80=
=9D
Laman said.

Medicines in the Philippines are one of the most expensive in Asia.
With INQUIRER.net





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