Investigating disempowerment in the Philippine generic medicines industry: a study on the problems of Filipino-owned generics pharmaceutical firms

Abstract

Generic medicines, for the longest time, had been thought of drugs that were inferior, unsafe and ineffective as opposed to their branded counterparts. Even with the national legislations of the Generics Act of 1998 and the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, consumers and physicians had remained doubtful of the quality possessed by these off-patent pharmaceutical products. In effect, this phenomenon had lead to the numerous difficulties faced by Filipino generics firms in their business operations. Nevertheless, the development of generic drugs had been considered as the only viable option for affordable and accessible medicines. Without these generic versions, the pharmaceutical market will always be dominated by expensive, originator medicines. It was imperative therefore, to examine the nature and causes of negative generic medicine perception along with the generally weak Filipino pharmaceutical industry. This investigation aimed to describe the situation of the Philippine drug industry, determine the causes that led to the supply of generics medicines in the country, identify the different grounds for the disempowerment of Filipino generic companies, determine the role of government in upholding and regulating their activities, as well as to propose a resolution for the support of their economic operations.