Drug industries slammed over pricey products
Drug industries slammed over pricey products
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite a health ministry circular instructing pharmaceutical
industries to "self-assess" the prices of their products in order
to make them more affordable to the public, most drugs remain
beyond the reach of the poor, according to the Indonesian Health
Consumer's Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI).
The foundation said that the health ministry issued a decree
last month, addressed to the directors of pharmaceutical
companies, calling on them to "reappraise" their prices,
following on public criticism about the high prices of medicines.
"But the manufacturers have not complied. They argue that
prices should not be regulated. Instead, they have demanded that
prices be determined by the market," said Marius Widjajarta,
chairman of YPKKI.
Marius said that prices for medicines in Indonesia remained
high, not because of high raw material costs, but rather due to
other expenses such as marketing and promotion.
"The price of medicines in the market at present is double the
cost of production," said Marius.
"Around 300 percent (of total production costs) are spent on
promotion, such as organizing conferences to introduce new
products to doctors and placing advertisements in the media,"
said Marius, who is a member of the Team for Drugs Pricing
Evaluation, which operates under the coordination of the health
ministry.
He also said that supposedly cheaper generic medicines have
not overcome the problem.
"The price of generic drugs here is still higher than in other
countries," Marius said.
Sutoto, the director of Fatmawati Hospital added that people
are still reluctant to take generic medicines as many doubt their
effectiveness. He said the number of consumers of generic
medicines was higher in other ASEAN countries.
"In other countries the consumption of generic (medicines)
could reach 30 to 40 percent, while in Indonesia, I think it's
only 10 percent," said Sutoto, who said that 60 to 70 percent of
medicines used in his own hospital are generic.
Marius also blamed the pharmaceutical industry for not
supporting the use of generic drugs. He said that the industry
had not complied with the ministry's regulation released in
August last year, which stated that producers must attach the
word "generic" to the labels of such drugs.
"According to the regulation, the word 'generic' should be
capitalized and stand out above the name of the product. But the
manufacturers have not complied with the regulation; they are
afraid that their product will be considered cheap by the
public," said Marius, referring to the fact that many people
associate cheap products with lower quality.