Unilab to reduce prices of 65 essential drugs

As government prepares for the first shipment of cheap imported drugs from India, United Laboratories, a Filipino-owned drug company, announced yesterday that it is reducing the prices of 65 essential drugs.

Unilab, the single biggest local drug manufacturer in the country, accounts for some 20 percent of the local pharmaceutical market and Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II welcomed the initiative to lower drug prices.

In the list are anti-infectives such as amoxicillin (marketed under the brand Sumoxil), cefalexin (under the brand Lexum), cotrimoxazole (under the brand Microbid) and erythromycin.

Unilab said it is also reducing the price of anti-tuberculosis drugs such as rifampicin; anti-asthmatics such as salbutamol and guiafenesin; pain relievers such as paracetamol, ibuprofen and mefenamic acid; cardio-vascular medications such as nifedipine (under the brand Calcibloc) and certain vitamins.

The essential drugs in the Unilab list, according to the company, would be 10 to 40-percent cheaper than their current prices, especially for pediatric antibiotics such as Sumoxil suspension which would now be sold 40-percent cheaper at P77.25 per 60-milliliter bottle from P128.75.

Government has finalized plans of importing drugs from India to force drug companies to reduce their prices but the primary target is not local drug companies but multinational drug companies.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) has begun purchasing the medicines from the same multinational companies in India as the ones government is trying to pressure to lower prices in the Philippines. DTI assistant secretary Zenaida Maglaya admitted that the actual volume of the initial importation would not be significant enough to have an impact on domestic prices.

According to Maglaya, government will be importing the same drugs that are available here and manufactured by the same multinational drug companies but are sold at comparatively cheaper in India.

Local pharmaceutical companies however want government to limit its importation to raw materials for pharmaceutical products, saying that they would not be able to compete should the Department of Health start selling cheap imported medicines.

An official from the Chamber of Filipino Drug Manufacturers (CFDM) told reporters that local pharmaceutical companies would be the first to succumb if the government proceeds with its plan to import from India and other cheap sources of off-patent drugs. Multinational drug companies account for 70 percent of the market while local pharmaceutical companies account for only 30 percent, selling mostly to small drug stores and government agencies.

According to the source, local pharmaceutical firms will be directly hit by this move since government agencies such as the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development account for a huge part of the market left over by the foreign drug companies.

The source said the government should import raw materials instead and do the processing in the country. At the resulting price level, the source said local companies would be able to compete although they would still have to bring down prices. --