Drug firms finger dodgy doctors
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Pharmaceutical firms have complained about the favors they are obliged to do for medical practitioners, saying that such activities have caused drug prices to soar.
An official from the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Industry Association (GP Farmasi) alleged that some doctors' associations have forced his members to organize exhibitions during seminars, and provide air tickets, hotel charges, and food allowances for the doctors attending.
"The practice is common and forces the industry to increase the price of drugs," he said.
A tablet of branded amoxillin antibiotics, for example, could cost about Rp 3,000 (35 U.S. cents), while the generic ones cost only about Rp 560.
He illustrated his point by saying that a medical specialist's association had asked several pharmaceutical companies to set up promotion stands during a seminar, but they were forced to pay up to US$40 per square meter for the booths.
"The normal price is about US$8 per square meter," he said, adding that pharmaceutical companies were often required to rent a least six square meters.
"If the company refuses, then a deal exists among specialists that they will not prescribe our products," he said.
"Because of the consequences, our members will never refuse attendance, but in the end the costs will be added to the product's price. Consumers have to pay the price," he said.
He also said this is a common occurrence. "Such thing happens at almost every exhibition. The industry has no choice, particularly on patented drug which could not be promoted in other way."
A pharmacist, Mulyadi, said the price of a branded drug could be five or six times more than its generic equivalent.
The usual reason for the high prices is given as the cost of raw materials, which are mostly imported from foreign countries such as Sweden and India.
A spokesman for a pharmaceutical company also complained of paying doctors' costs:
"Sometimes they even treat it (the seminar or symposium) as a family vacation, so they bring their family members with them," said the man who refused to be named.
The cost of such 'promotions' supposedly adds between 15 and 20 percent to the drug price.
Separately, Dodi Firmanto, spokesman for the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), said such practices could be reported to IDI's Doctors's Code of Ethics Council (MKEK).
The association was supposed to have the authority to suspend medical doctors engaged in such practices, but in many cases it failed.
The country has about 12,000 variants of drugs available, compared to 5,000 in the U.S. and Europe.