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MEMBERS
of the bicameral conference committee expressed optimism
on Tuesday that it would be able to consolidate the best
features of the Senate’s Quality, Affordable Medicines
Act and the House’s cheaper medicines bill, once
Congress reconvenes next week.
Sen. Mar
Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and
Commerce, and Partido Demokratiko ng Pilipinas-Laban
Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City, one of the vice
chairmen of the House Committee on Trade and Industry,
shared the same view as meetings of the bicameral
conference committee will be set when Congress resumes
session on January 28.
“[Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino] Rep. Antonio Alvarez
[of Palawan] and I, as cochairs of the bicameral
committee, have agreed to make our deliberations as open
and transparent as possible,” said Roxas.
“He’s
right,” said Locsin in an SMS.
While
its members are optimistic that they will be able to
reconcile the two bills’ differences, still, debates are
expected to prolong the process as both parties are
likely to defend their respective versions.
But
Alvarez, in a separate telephone interview with the
BusinessMirror, gave assurance that it will not be as
rigid as he and his Senate counterparts even called for
an informal bicam.
Lakas
Rep. Fernejel Biron of
Iloilo,
principal sponsor of the House bill, said earlier that
he and his colleagues would try to convince their
counterparts in the Senate to consider the House version
as “it offers a comprehensive approach in bringing down
prices of medicines.”
Locsin,
for his part, said that the Senate recognizes that the
House version is superior.
Alvarez
said that although he does not want to call the House
version superior, there are more provisions in the House
versions than the Senate has.
“If you
remember there are 24 bills filed in the House. We got
the best provisions out of those 24 bills,” Alvarez
said.
The
Senate’s version subscribes to price regulation of
medicines but only through the Office of the President
and based on the recommendation of the secretaries of
health and trade. The House version seeks to establish a
drug price-regulatory board, composed of representatives
from different agencies and consumer groups, that will
have immense power to set the prices of medicines based
on their own analysis of the situation.
“This is
reflective of the current Price Act and ensures direct
and clear accountability whenever the need for price
control arises. Under the Senate version, the
secretaries of health and trade, being the ones most
familiar with the health situation and the supply/demand
of medicines, are given sufficient leeway to decide how
consultations on drug-price regulation should be
institutionalized,” Roxas said in a statement.
“Though
the proposed bill is silent on voting procedures, it is
assumed that decisions to impose price control will be
made by majority vote of the members of the board,” he
added.
On the
amendments to the Generics Act and Pharmacy Law, Roxas
said that in the course of hearings on the cheaper
medicines bill, several stakeholders have proposed
amendments to both the Generics Act of 1988 and the
Pharmacy Law. One such proposal was to amend Section 6
of the Generics Law by strictly requiring that doctors
write only generic names of drugs in medical
prescriptions.
“Considering that these proposals have a major impact in
the professional practice of doctor and pharmacists,
these comments have been referred for further
discussions through technical working group meetings
under the Senate Committee on Health and Demography. It
is for this reason that amendments to the Generics Act
are not found in the Senate version,” Roxas said.
Alvarez
said there is really nothing to debate about the
Generics Act because it is not included in the Senate
version.
“Walang
dapat pagdebatihan sa Generics Act kasi wala
naman sa versions nila ’yun. It’s either i-adopt
lang o hindi. Medyo lamang na kami doon, wala
silang pangkontra unlike sa price regulatory
board,” Alvarez said. |
