PRESS RELEASE
24 October 2007 International NGO, Oxfam hits the Court of Appeals‘ outright dismissal of the petition to annul and/or set aside the order of the Makati RTC that denied the motion of the patients with hypertension to intervene in the case filed by Pfizer against the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) and Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC).
The patients, Darleen Gela, Jessica Soto, Jose Sapian and Rosan Badon filed on October 23 the motion for reconsideration before the Special Fourth Decision of the Court of Appeals. Saipan and Badon earlier filed the petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals but was denied because Gela and Soto failed to submit the required verification and certification of non-forum shopping.
“The CA decision grossly undermined the interest of the patients to participate in the case giving undue attention to technicality. It should at least look at their individual capacities as consumers of the contested anti-hypertension drug, Norvasc, which Pfizer is unfairly selling in the Philippines at a very high price,” said Shalimar Vitan, Oxfam’s Access to Medicines Campaign Coordinator.
On April 10, 2007, Makati RTC Judge Cesar Untalan denied the motion of the patients on the ground that the patients have no legal interest in the case and have failed to meet the requirement that they will be directly affected by the judgment of the case. Judge Untalan also ruled that the patients raised bare Constitutional provisions that still need enabling laws to realize the right of the people to health.
The patients filed a motion for reconsideration before the sala of Judge Untalan on May 18, 2007 but were denied again for lack of merit on July 14, 2007.
“The patients invoked the Constitutional right of the people to health based on government steps to ensure public health, which is being blocked by Pfizer. We hope the Court of Appeals will not follow the track that Pfizer and Judge Untalan chose to take in this case,” said Vitan.
Pfizer filed the lawsuit against the PITC and BFAD for importing cheaper versions of Norvasc from Pakistan in 2005 and allegedly violating the patent rights of Pfizer in the Philippines. The government issued a regulatory approval to allow the entry of a cheaper version of Norvasc that costs almost 90% less.
On 14 July 2000, former DOH Secretary, Alberto G. Romualdez, Jr. issued Administrative Order No. 85 ["AO 85"] (s. 2000) on the premise that the Philippines has one of the highest drug prices in the ASEAN region. The order cited the key strategy to lower drug prices is the importation of finished drug products from other countries where these drugs are cheaper than in the Philippines, subject to registration of these drugs with the BFAD prior to sale in the market.
