SALON

Thursday, Apr 27, 2006 10:42 PM UTC

Pfizer vs. the Philippines, Round 2

Pfizer sues the Philippines, the Philippines sue right back.

By

Topics: Globalization, How the World Works, Philippines,

The Philippines are not backing down to Pfizer. Three weeks ago, we discussed here a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Pfizer against Philippine government officials. In 18 months, the patent on Pfizer’s hypertension drug Norvasc will expire, and the Philippines wants to be ready, hoping, at that date, to immediately start importing a much cheaper Indian version of the drug. But registering a new generic drug with the Board of Food and Drugs in the Philippines is a time-consuming process, so the government wants to start now.

Norvasc is one of Pfizer’s biggest sellers, and it wants to maintain its window of high-priced sales as long as possible; thus, the lawsuit. But on April 10, Roberto Pagdanganan, president of the state-owned Philippine International Trading Corp., turned around and filed a countersuit against Pfizer, just one day after testifying in the patent suit filed against him.

The whole brouhaha offers a classic illustration of how the interests of the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations don’t mesh. This is not the first time that Big Pharma and the Philippines have tangled. For the better part of a decade, Philippine government officials, who claim that drug prices in the Philippines are significantly higher than elsewhere in Asia, have been looking for ways to bring down medical costs. They’ve been opposed at every step of the way by the pharmaceutical industry, working hand in hand with the United States government.

In 1999 the Philippine secretary of health, Alberto Romualdez, attempted to institute an “administrative order” that would require pharmaceutical companies to label off-patent drugs with their generic name, in addition to their brand name, in the hopes of educating consumers as to cheaper alternatives to the brand-name versions. The pharmaceutical industry threatened to withdraw from the country, and U.S. State Department representatives made not-so-veiled threats of trade retaliation. Romualdez’s response to the threats, quoted in Jennifer Ellen Mattson’s illuminating timeline of the 1999 dispute, is instructive.

“Suspension or termination of the operations of U.S.-based pharmaceuticals will cause only minor dislocations in the Philippine pharmaceutical industry, as most of these are available either through local manufacturers or from other countries. Innovative products that are truly life-saving will continue to be available through international humanitarian agencies and other concerned organizations.”

“Brand name regulation … will affect only products that require doctor’s prescriptions for their use. These comprise a small fraction of total American goods sold in the Philippines. It does not seem appropriate for the strongest economic power in the world to jeopardize the entire range of commerce with the Philippines. The disproportion is especially clear if one considers that what is at stake is the health and lives of Filipino children as against the already vast profits of a few companies.”

“The Department of Health has a responsibility to examine all possible options that will assure quality health care for all Filipinos. If these options include limiting the property rights of a few, it is still mandatory to consider them in view of the well-established legal maxims favoring the benefit of the majority.”

“Limiting the property rights of the few… It’s hard to imagine words that could strike more fear into Big Pharma. Not that anyone at Pfizer appears to be worried. Although Pfizer stock has declined in value by some 44 percent during the tenure of current CEO Hank McKinnell, Pfizer’s Board of Directors has rewarded him with a pension package worth at least $83 million.

Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21. More Andrew Leonard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations