By Fel V. Maragay

Senator Mar Roxas yesterday accused multinational pharmaceutical firms of mounting a campaign to sabotage the implementation of the Quality Affordable Medicines Law and urged the government not to succumb to such pressure.

Roxas said the multinationals are pressuring the government to go slow in enforcing the new law by working for the inclusion of the Philippines in the intellectual property watch list of the United States.

He said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) started lobbying with the US Congress for the imposition of sanctions against the Philippines for alleged violation of their property rights.

The group has also asked US President Barack Obama to put the Philippines on top of the US priority watch list of intellectual property violators.

?The giant drug companies are scared to the bones, that?s why they continue attempts to stop the Cheap Medicines Law,? Roxas said.

?But our people?s health is important. We will fight for a healthy republic, and we shouldn?t mind if American companies complain about it.?

According to the senator from Capiz, the multinational drug firms are so afraid of losing their market share so much so that GlaxoSmithKline has announced it has slashed its prices by 30 to 50 percent for holders of its discount cards.

He also noted that Pfizer Philippines Inc. had earlier attempted to masquerade its discount card for its highly-popular Norvasc drug as an answer to stop the Cheap Medicines Law.

?The truth is they can reduce their prices by half, but they choose to sell their drugs at high prices so they can afford extravagant expenditures like parties and bribes for doctors,? Roxas said.