IS another storm brewing and headed in the direction of the Department of Health (DOH)?
There are reports that some stalwarts of the country’s pharmaceutical industry have been quietly talking to some solons and asking them to look into the recent move by Health Secretary Paulynn Jeann B. Rosell-Ubial to slash the budget of one of its attached agencies—the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). The industry appears to be worried by Ubial’s move, since this will definitely adversely affect the ongoing campaign of the FDA against one of the industry’s biggest nemeses: product counterfeiters.
Why Ubial should specifically slash the FDA’s law-enforcement budget baffles the industry. That Ubial’s move appears to have been timed with the FDA’s renewed war against illegal food and drugs products is even more puzzling. Why cripple an attached agency that’s been doing a good job that benefits the pharmaceutical sector, industry observers ask.
Product counterfeiting has been a headache in the pharmaceutical sector for the longest time. This scourge appears to have grown over the years, apparently unchecked and encouraged by the lack of the necessary will and resources on the part of government.
An extensive study conducted by the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) cited a report by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO, a “significant fraction of the world’s drug supply is counterfeit and falsified”.
The estimate runs up to 10 percent to 15 percent of the world’s supply, and up to 25 percent in developing countries. That’s one out of every four drug products sold in the market. The report warned, however, that it is difficult to establish the real volume of counterfeit drugs in the market, since that can be determined only when these fake goods have been seized and assessed.
The WHPA estimated the volume of business in counterfeit-drugs peddling has already reached some $75 billion a few years back.
What is alarming is that, in the Philippines, the top five counterfeited drugs are those used by many underprivileged Filipinos. These are antihypertensive drugs, antiasthma, analgesic medicines, antidiarrhea and vitamins.
That the pharmaceutical sector should be enraged by the DOH move to clip the FDA’s resources in the fight against counterfeit drugs is understandable. The WHPA report cited a study by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which explained that it takes pharmaceutical companies about 10 to 15 years to develop a drug at a whopping cost of about $820 million.
“Copying the drug takes only three to five years, at an approximate cost of $60,000,” the report said.
It is also expected that the pharmaceutical industry would demand and expect that the FDA sustain and intensify its drive against counterfeit drugs. After all, industry members have paid all the necessary dues to the government to have their products licensed and registered. The revenues they make from the sale of legitimate products are taxed by government. It is only fair that the government—through the FDA—should protect them from the syndicates that peddle the counterfeit versions of their products.
The industry has no doubt that newly appointed FDA Director-General Nela Charade Puno intends to do just that. In fact, the FDA’s partnership with the Philippine National Police for its law enforcement operations has already produced positive results.
Now, the industry wonders why Ubial apparently wants to stop FDA’s efforts.
There have been earlier speculations that the budget slash—reportedly a shocking P700 million of the total FDA budget—was triggered by a very flimsy reason: certain DOH personalities have a serious dislike for Puno.
Others speculate that the budget slash could be intended to prevent the FDA from overshadowing its mother agency. The view is that a major achievement on the part of the FDA might underscore the reality that there has been none so far on the part of the DOH.
Whether or not this is true, we hope that the DOH would change its mind and just let the FDA do its job.
True, the success of FDA would make Puno look good. But that would not necessarily make Ubial look bad. Besides, that is not the issue. We don’t care about Ubial or Puno. The point here is that cutting FDA’s budget is unfair to the public and to the legitimate pharmaceutical industry.
We hope that the proposed congressional investigation into that cruel cut on the FDA budget would materialize.
A congressional probe would help shed light on the reason behind Ubial’s move. Our solons can also help the public understand better the problem of drug counterfeiting in our country and how this evil affects their health and well-being.
We believe that Ubial herself would welcome this proposed probe. This would give her the chance to dispel the growing speculation that the budget cut has no solid basis. Let’s hear it directly from her.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.