Arroyo signs cheaper medicines law.......

Arroyo signs cheaper medicines law

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net


STA.
CRUZ, Laguna -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed here on Friday
a new law that aims to bring down the price of medicines by encouraging
more competition in the local market through parallel importation of
cheaper but quality drugs.

Republic Act 9502, or the
"Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008,"
also seeks to help the local generics industry by amending the
Intellectual Property Code and strengthening the regulatory powers of
the Bureau of Food and Drugs against substandard medicine.

"We
all know about the importance of the Generics Law before but it was
incomplete, and now with the cheaper medicines and quality bill we have
completed, I believe, our legislative reforms in bringing affordable
medicines to the people," Arroyo said in a brief message after signing
the new law.

The agency, for its part, said the new law would allow it to expand a program to deliver cheap medicines to the grassroots.

Although
listed as a priority measure by the Legislative Executive Development
Advisory Council (LEDAC), the cheaper medicines bill was bypassed by
the 13th Congress due to lack of time and quorum.

Congress finally ratified it in April this year.

Arroyo
said the measure was part of government efforts to make medicines
affordable to the people, especially the poor already burdened by high
prices of oil, electricity, and food.

In an interview after the
signing, the law’s principal author, Senator Manuel Roxas II, said the
measure will remove all roadblocks towards parallel importation of
medicines.

He also said safeguards are in place to prevent the proliferation of fake drugs.

The
other senators present at the signing were Pia Cayetano and Ramon
Revilla Jr. Several congressmen also showed up for the ceremony.

With
the new law, any individual or organization registered with the Bureau
of Food and Drugs may import medicines and sell them cheap to the
public.

Other salient features of the new law include:

• Prohibition of the grant of new patents based only on newly-discovered uses of a known drug substance;

•
Allowing local generics firms to test, produce and register their
generic versions of patented drugs, so these can be sold right upon
patent expiry ("early working principle");

• Allowing the government use of patented drugs when the public interest is at stake;

•
Giving the President the power to put price ceilings on various drugs,
upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health. These drugs include
those for chronic illnesses, for prevention of diseases, and those on
the Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF) Essential Drug List;

•
Strengthening the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration so that it
could ensure the safety of medicines, by allowing it to retain its
revenues for upgrading of its facilities, equipment and human
resources; and

• Ensuring the availability of affordable
medicines by requiring drug outlets to carry a variety of brands for
each drug, including those sourced from "parallel importation," to give
the consumer more choices.

This should have been done ages ago! Sh*T!

she do this because she want to take back the trust of the people for her....uh...what kind of government is this???what kind of president is she????

hold your horses people...its a good thing she's doing it....she aint a saint but she's better i think than those double-faced suckers....