Philippines seeks more voluntary drug price reductions

For the second time in less than half a year, the Philippines government is calling on pharmaceutical companies, including global behemoth Pfizer and UK giant GlaxoSmithKline, to voluntarily halve their prices of some top-selling products, reports Bloomberg, Business Week and other news sources.

The reductions may affect more than 21 drugs and could be introduced by the end of March, Alex Padilla, Under Secretary at the country's Department of Health, said in an interview in Manila that five 'major' drug companies have submitted lists of medicines and the health department expects others to submit lists this week.' The deadline for submission was extended to January 22 from January 14, he said. 'There is some apprehension that these reductions will be mandatory but the department is willing to work with drug companies on this. We prefer that prices are brought down voluntarily. If not, then we have to impose,' Mr Padilla continued.

Last August, the Philippines lowered the prices of 21 medicines by 50%, a year after a law requiring drug price cuts was passed. At that time, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo surprised the drug industry by imposing price controls on a number of hypertension and cancer medications, even though some of their manufacturers offered to cut prices voluntarily. Those drugs included Pfizer's Norvasc (amlodipine) and Lipitor (atorvastatin), as well as GSK's antibiotic Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanate).