A group of pharmaceutical manufacturers has offered bulk buying of medicines to decrease drug prices that covers various diseases.
This announcement came amid the proposed Executive Order of the Department of Health (DOH) that enforces a maximum drug retail prices (MDRP) on 120 medicines.
Teodoro Padilla, Executive Director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), said that pharmaceutical companies are offering to reduce their prices to the public by as much as 75 percent for around 150 medicines that cover 36 disease categories, The Manila Bulletin reported.
“Several of our members are prepared to extend these same price reductions to the public, if the Department of Health will agree,” he added.
PHAP said that proof of concept was government hospitals, where medicine is cheaper because the government can drive the prices lower by virtue of its being a bulk purchaser.
According to Padilla, the proposed medicine price cut includes diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, asthma, psoriasis, neurologic disorders, HIV, as well as medicines for various types of cancer such as breast, colorectal, lung, cervical, kidney, ovarian, lymphomas, and prostate, among others.
“It is actually at these levels of prices which we have been selling to the government in bulk in the past years. Several of our members are prepared to extend these same price reductions to the public, if the Department of Health (DOH) will agree,” said Padilla.
“These price reductions are generally expected to be felt throughout the supply chain from manufacturers down to the both government and private retail drug stores and pharmacies that dispense medicines directly to the public.”
The proposed MDRP scheme aims to reduce the prices of selected medicines as much as 56 percent from the prevailing market prices.
