PR drive vs 'counterfeit' medicines confirmed
PR drive vs 'counterfeit' medicines confirmed
Posted 11:15pm (Mla time) Feb 08, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the February 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
TWO weeks after this column dwelt on a propaganda drive against government importations of medicines to provide Filipinos with cheaper medicines ("Medicines imported by RP gov't are not fake," As I See It, 1-24-05), I received a faxed letter from Bong Osorio, communication consultant of the Coalition Against Counterfeit Medicines, which confirmed that there really was a drive by various entities against "counterfeit" medicines. He denied, however, that it was against the parallel importations by the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) headed by Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan. He said the objective “is to raise awareness on the part of the public on the dangers of the 'counterfeit' medicines [and] does not intend in any way to allude that the medicines being imported by the PITC are counterfeit. In fact, this is precisely the issue raised by the DOH [Department of Health] and DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] even before they agreed to be a part of the coalition and support its initiatives. Hence, this issue was thoroughly threshed out by the coalition before it launched its campaign so as the same would not be seen as a program against government's parallel imports."
Osorio said the campaign's primary goal is "to arm the public with information against medicines that do not pass trough the regulatory processes of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). It aims to educate unsuspecting Filipinos on how to detect a counterfeit from a genuine medicine, and directs them to a hotline so they can report incidences of counterfeiting.
"By World Health Organization (WHO) definition, counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products. Thus, counterfeit medicines may include:
" l. products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging;
" 2. products with the wrong ingredients;
" 3. products without active ingredients;
" 4. products with insufficient ingredients.
"Please understand that the coalition's efforts are not against medicines that meet regulatory requirements set by the BFAD, but are against the potentially dangerous counterfeit medicines that deliberately avoid regulatory scrutiny (italics ours) for whatever reasons. Obviously, this is the target of the coalition because they pose serious and grave danger to our countrymen's health, safety and well-being."
The coalition's communications consultant concludes: "We hope this clarifies some of the points raised in your column."
No, it does not, as far as the consuming public is concerned. The confusion is created by the unfortunate use by the coalition of the word "counterfeit." By WHO definition (WHO has often been accused of being a "tool" of US big business), "counterfeit" precisely includes the parallel imports of the PITC that, as No. 1 of the definitions describes, are "products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging." The PITC imports are genuine medicines manufactured abroad by subsidiaries of the mother multinational pharmaceutical companies (in other words, sister companies of the multinationals here) but brought here because they are cheaper. Their packaging and labels may be different from those manufactured here. Therefore, they fall under the WHO definition of "counterfeit."
But as the Feb. 24 column pointed out, in the Philippines, "counterfeit" is confused with "fake." In fact, it is the word "fake" that is often used in news reports in media because it is much shorter than "counterfeit," which is too long for headline purposes. I have not read in the newspapers or heard on TV and radio any explanation from the coalition about the difference between "counterfeit" and "fake" in the case of medicines. As far as the public is concerned, which is not privy to the discussion of the coalition, "counterfeit" is the same as "fake" and that includes the cheaper government imports. Therefore, they are scared into buying only the more expensive medicines made here by the multinationals.
Why not use "substandard" instead of "counterfeit," so the meaning becomes clearer? The PITC imports are not substandard because they are really "genuine" and have the correct ingredients and as potent as those made here by the multinationals. But I think the multinationals like to use "counterfeit" because the PITC imports fall into its definition. I suspect that the real reason for the propaganda campaign is the fear of the multinationals that the government's parallel imports will eat up into their huge market share. I think the DOH and DTI were just suckered in to make it legitimate and credible.
If the coalition is really after the welfare, health and well-being of the Filipinos, why does it not concentrate on lowering the prices of medicines? That will make imports unnecessary.
And speaking of substandard medicines, why not inquire into the efficacy of so many "medicines" claiming so many benefits in their advertisements-packaged herbs, leaves and fruits claiming to be good against diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and a lot of other diseases, just like the snake oil of old-but which escape "regulatory scrutiny" by the BFAD because they are classified as "food supplements"? I have not heard the DOH explain that there are no clear scientific proofs that these "food supplements" really do what they claim to do. Instead, some doctors and even media personalities are advertised as endorsing this or that product, and they don't even get a slap on the wrist.
Posted 11:15pm (Mla time) Feb 08, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the February 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
TWO weeks after this column dwelt on a propaganda drive against government importations of medicines to provide Filipinos with cheaper medicines ("Medicines imported by RP gov't are not fake," As I See It, 1-24-05), I received a faxed letter from Bong Osorio, communication consultant of the Coalition Against Counterfeit Medicines, which confirmed that there really was a drive by various entities against "counterfeit" medicines. He denied, however, that it was against the parallel importations by the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) headed by Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan. He said the objective “is to raise awareness on the part of the public on the dangers of the 'counterfeit' medicines [and] does not intend in any way to allude that the medicines being imported by the PITC are counterfeit. In fact, this is precisely the issue raised by the DOH [Department of Health] and DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] even before they agreed to be a part of the coalition and support its initiatives. Hence, this issue was thoroughly threshed out by the coalition before it launched its campaign so as the same would not be seen as a program against government's parallel imports."
Osorio said the campaign's primary goal is "to arm the public with information against medicines that do not pass trough the regulatory processes of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). It aims to educate unsuspecting Filipinos on how to detect a counterfeit from a genuine medicine, and directs them to a hotline so they can report incidences of counterfeiting.
"By World Health Organization (WHO) definition, counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products. Thus, counterfeit medicines may include:
" l. products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging;
" 2. products with the wrong ingredients;
" 3. products without active ingredients;
" 4. products with insufficient ingredients.
"Please understand that the coalition's efforts are not against medicines that meet regulatory requirements set by the BFAD, but are against the potentially dangerous counterfeit medicines that deliberately avoid regulatory scrutiny (italics ours) for whatever reasons. Obviously, this is the target of the coalition because they pose serious and grave danger to our countrymen's health, safety and well-being."
The coalition's communications consultant concludes: "We hope this clarifies some of the points raised in your column."
No, it does not, as far as the consuming public is concerned. The confusion is created by the unfortunate use by the coalition of the word "counterfeit." By WHO definition (WHO has often been accused of being a "tool" of US big business), "counterfeit" precisely includes the parallel imports of the PITC that, as No. 1 of the definitions describes, are "products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging." The PITC imports are genuine medicines manufactured abroad by subsidiaries of the mother multinational pharmaceutical companies (in other words, sister companies of the multinationals here) but brought here because they are cheaper. Their packaging and labels may be different from those manufactured here. Therefore, they fall under the WHO definition of "counterfeit."
But as the Feb. 24 column pointed out, in the Philippines, "counterfeit" is confused with "fake." In fact, it is the word "fake" that is often used in news reports in media because it is much shorter than "counterfeit," which is too long for headline purposes. I have not read in the newspapers or heard on TV and radio any explanation from the coalition about the difference between "counterfeit" and "fake" in the case of medicines. As far as the public is concerned, which is not privy to the discussion of the coalition, "counterfeit" is the same as "fake" and that includes the cheaper government imports. Therefore, they are scared into buying only the more expensive medicines made here by the multinationals.
Why not use "substandard" instead of "counterfeit," so the meaning becomes clearer? The PITC imports are not substandard because they are really "genuine" and have the correct ingredients and as potent as those made here by the multinationals. But I think the multinationals like to use "counterfeit" because the PITC imports fall into its definition. I suspect that the real reason for the propaganda campaign is the fear of the multinationals that the government's parallel imports will eat up into their huge market share. I think the DOH and DTI were just suckered in to make it legitimate and credible.
If the coalition is really after the welfare, health and well-being of the Filipinos, why does it not concentrate on lowering the prices of medicines? That will make imports unnecessary.
And speaking of substandard medicines, why not inquire into the efficacy of so many "medicines" claiming so many benefits in their advertisements-packaged herbs, leaves and fruits claiming to be good against diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and a lot of other diseases, just like the snake oil of old-but which escape "regulatory scrutiny" by the BFAD because they are classified as "food supplements"? I have not heard the DOH explain that there are no clear scientific proofs that these "food supplements" really do what they claim to do. Instead, some doctors and even media personalities are advertised as endorsing this or that product, and they don't even get a slap on the wrist.
posted by Dante at 12:00 AM
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