Marcos: Philippines should boost local medicine production

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic should prompt the Philippines to boost production of local medicines to have sufficient stockpile during emergencies.

"Let's maximize the local production. The initial reason why this came up is the supply problems that we encountered during the lockdowns so we need to be prepared. We should be able to produce the local supply of essential medicines," Marcos said in a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) healthcare sector group.

Marcos directed the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work with the private sector to identify medicines that can be manufactured locally. 

The Health department and FDA should also maximize the utilization of the capacity of local pharmaceutical manufacturers, particularly in the production of basic medications for poor Filipino patients such as anti-tuberculosis drugs.

The PSAC will monitor new technologies in healthcare that can be used for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and recommend those to the DOH and PhilHealth. It will also study the feasibility of establishing remote diagnostics centers and assess new medical technologies and their costs.

The advisory council also pushed for the continued digitalization of the information systems of the FDA until its target completion in August this year.

Once digitalized, other systems such as new chemical entity renewal, certificate of listing of the identical drug product (CLIDP), and post-marketing surveillance will follow, it added.

Among those who attended the PSAC meeting were Sabin Aboitiz, Strategic convenor president and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.; Paolo Maximo Borromeo, Healthcare lead president and CEO of Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc; Fr. Nicanor Austriaco Jr., Healthcare Sector Member, and Filipino-American molecular biologist; Dr. Nicanor Montoya, Healthcare Sector Member and CEO of Medicard Philippines, Inc.; DOH officer in charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, and Commission on Higher Education chairperson Prospero de Vera III.—Sherylin Untalan/LDF, GMA Integrated News