Gadon questions failure to address overpriced Remdesivir
LAWYER Larry Gadon has questioned the continued failure of Health Sec. Francisco Duque to address the supposed overpriced Remdesivir that has been affecting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, “including those dying from the disease.”
Gadon also said that he is preparing criminal complaints in coordination with Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor and Deputy Speaker and Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta against pharmaceutical firms, distributors and retailers of Remdesivir for allegedly taking advantage of the situation by allegedly selling the overpriced drug.
“Sec. Duque should impose price cap because there are people taking advantage of the pandemic at the detriment of COVID patients, including those dying from the disease,” Gadon said, adding that Remdesivir pricing has been increased from P3,000 to P5,000 per shot to as high as P12,000 to P27,000.
“With the help of Cong. Mike and Cong. Marcoleta, we are gathering evidence to support the filing of the charges,” Gadon said.
Gadon also asked Duque to prove that the World Health Organization (WHO) was wrong in issuing a conditional recommendation last year against the use of Remdesivir in hospitalized patients, regardless of disease severity by imposing a price cap.
He said WHO pointed out there is currently no alleged evidence that Remdesivir improves survival and other outcomes in these patients.
In a related development, Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera has slammed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its latest guidelines that tend to prevent certain potential COVID-19 treatment drugs from getting registered in the Philippines.
Herrera was referring to the updated guidelines for the registration of drug products under emergency use (DEU) as laid down in FDA Circular 2021-008 dated April 20, 2021, which limit the scope and coverage of products with positive living systematic reviews (LSR) and the existence of registered counterpart with the FDA.
“These imposed restrictions on the coverage of the DEU defeats the very purpose for which the DEU was issued in the first place,” Herrera said.
