Pharma Watch in Th Philippines

The Impact of Botika Binhi on Essential Drugs

Drug prices in the Philippines is one of the highest in Asia resulting to low accessibility among the lower income urban and rural group. Both government and NGO’s are seeking ways to bridge the gap on the inaccessibility of drugs brought about by the prohibitive prices being imposed freely by multinational companies and big local companies. The Botika Binhi Program was created as a feasible alternative to the existing free market system of drug distribution in the Philippines. This institutional innovation, aims to make drugs more accessible and affordable to the marginalized sectors in Philippine society. It is projected to impact savings on the healthcare expenditure of Filipino families.

The pharmaceutical sector is regarded as one of the most profitable industries in the world. In the Philippines, pharmaceutical companies mostly belong to the top 1000 companies. Majority of the market share in Philippine pharma is dominated by multinational companies and Unilab. The monopoly being maintained by these companies can be attributed to different barriers like high cost of research for new drugs, patent and franchises being held up by multinational companies and high operating expenses related to advertising, marketing, promotion and distribution. Small generic players and local companies have difficulty penetrating the market because of these barriers. The high price of drugs in the country are attributed to high production, marketing and distribution expenses of these companies. The high retail mark-up of drugstores also contribute to the high price of drugs.

On the demand side, the consumption pattern show an irrational drug use brought upon by the imperfections in the healthcare market and the absence of national healthcare system. Measures had been put up by the government to address these problems but implementation has been slow. As a result, the use of safe and effective drugs when needed becomes difficult to...