DOCTORS SHOULD WRITE BOTH GENERIC AND BRANDED NAMES OF MEDICINES — PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said doctors should be allowed
to prescribe branded medicines to patients but should
also be required to write their generic equivalents in
the prescription form.

Pimentel expressed support for a move to delete a
provision in the House version of the Cheap Medicines
Bill which makes it mandatory for doctors to prescribe
only generic drugs.

“Doctors know by experience which drugs are potent and
effective for curing specific diseases. So in my view,
they should not be forced to prescribe only generic
drugs,” he said.

“Doctors should be free to prescribe branded medicines
but they should also write their counterparts in
generic form. What is important is the people are
given the freedom of choice insofar as the right
medicines are concerned.”

Pimentel pointed out that the Generics Act of 1988 of
which he is the principal author, encourages the
prescription of both generic and branded medicines. He
said the Generics Act was enacted into law to bring
down the cost of medicines.

He expressed the hope that this suggested compromise
will be adopted by the bicameral conference committee
to avoid any deadlock over the Cheaper Medicines Bill
which may unnecessarily delay its approval.

If doctors are limited to prescribing only generic
drugs, Pimentel said the sales clerk in every
drugstore will exercise a lot of discretion in
disposing of the drugs over the counter even if he or
she may not be a pharmacist.

He said the sales clerk is likely to recommend or
favor any branded equivalent of the generic drug
manufactured by certain pharmaceutical firms that give
incentives to health professionals as part of their
promotional program.

In effect, he said the discretion or judgement of the
sales clerk will prevail over the doctor.
-o0o-

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