Metro Manila (CNN Philippins, March 30) — The Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be working with the private sector to boost local medicine production, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday.
According to the Palace, Marcos wants the country to enhance local drug manufacturing and secure a stockpile of medicine in preparation for potential nationwide emergencies.
“Let’s maximize the local production,” the President said during a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) healthcare sector group.
“The initial reason why this came up is the supply problems that we encountered during the lockdowns so we need to be prepared,” he also said. “We should be able to produce the local supply of essential medicines.”
At the meeting, the Palace said the DOH and the FDA will work with the private sector to identify medicines that can be produced locally and maximize the capacity of local pharmaceutical manufacturers, particularly the production of basic medicines such as anti-tuberculosis drugs.
Meanwhile, the PSAC agreed to monitor new technologies in healthcare that can be used for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and recommend those to the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
The council also areed to study the feasibility of establishing remote diagnostics centers and assess new medical technologies and their costs.
Aside from this, the PSAC also said it would upgrade the FDA’s 10 information systems via digitalization which includes improving the electronic certificate of product registration information system.
“The overall digitalization rate is 72.5 percent, and the target for full digitalization is August this year,” it said.
The advisory council said once digitalized, other systems, such as new chemical entity renewal, certificate of listing of the identical drug product (CLIDP), and post-marketing surveillance, shall follow.
Representatives in the meeting included DOH officer-in-charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, Commission on Higher Education Chairman Prospero de Vera III, chief executive officers of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. and other health experts.
