In celebration of the Generics Awareness Month this September, the Department of Health together with its partner agencies namely the World Health Organization, the Philippine Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industries, the Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association of the Philippines, GTZ, and PITC-Pharma hosted the first ever Philippine Generics Expo in Megatrade Hall 1, 5th floor SM Mega Mall last September 25-26, 2009.
The said expo, held in line with the implementation of the cheaper Medicines Act, gave out free medical consultation and tests as participants were also able to get freebies and discounts from exhibitors. Free lectures and discussion forums were also carried out on the two-day event. More importantly, quality generic medicine companies and their products which people can buy therein were also showcased.
According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, “Generic medicines have been our unsung heroes in the fight against costly, expensive, abusively- priced medicines. All these years, these generic medicine companies have competed against their high-priced innovator counterparts. Such competition has forced some of these high-priced medicine prices to go down to more affordable levels, just as it has further improved the quality of generic medicines through the years. If more and more doctors prescribe generic medicines and more and more people use generic medicines, these offer more competition to further force medicine prices to go down.”
Furthermore, to stress the benefits of generics, the DOH also signed an agreement with the Cancer Warriors Foundation to invest 20 Million pesos for the purchase of generic anti-cancer medications that is earmarked to benefit children with leukemia. These medicines that would have benefited only a few patients for the same amount due to the high costs of treatment can now help hundreds of leukemic patients. The medicines are purchased through PITC-Pharma and are 2 to 5 times cheaper than the innovator counterparts but are of excellent quality.
For more inquiries, contact 743-8301 loc. 1929 or email ftduque@co.doh.gov.ph.
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