A lawmaker is pushing for the swift passage of a measure that would impose tougher penalties, including life imprisonment, against those responsible for the large-scale manufacture, sale, and possession of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.
According to Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, there is need for this measure because of the proliferation of sale of fake medicines in online platform.
Yamsuan issued the call after the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPPHIL) and the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) recently launched a joint campaign aimed at weeding out counterfeit medicines from the market and promoting affordable healthcare innovations.
âThis partnership between the government and the pharmaceutical sector will help achieve our collective goal of protecting Filipinos from the serious dangers to health posed by the sale of fake and substandard meds, especially online. However, this campaign should be complemented by a measure that would put more teeth to existing laws that penalize the manufacture, sale and distribution of these counterfeit products,â Yamsuan said.
Yamsuan said House Bill (HB) 3984, of which he is a co-author, will strengthen the campaign against counterfeit pharmaceutical products and classify their large-scale manufacture, sale, distribution and possession as acts of economic sabotage.
âOur porous borders and easy access to goods online make our country vulnerable to the entry and use of counterfeit products, including medicines. While authorities continue to work tirelessly to stop pharmaceutical crimes, we must send a strong message, though measures like House Bill 3984, that those responsible behind them deserve to be severely punished,â Yamsuan said.
HB 3984 provides both administrative and criminal penalties to those found guilty of the âmanufacture, importation, distribution, sale, offering for sale, donation, trafficking, brokering, exportation, or possession of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.â