Why isn’t cancer medicine cheaper too, asks Santiago

KUALA LUMPUR: Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang) has praised the government for using “compulsory licensing” to reduce the cost of medication for Hepatitis C but asked why it wasn’t used to reduce the cost of treatment for breast cancer and colorectral drugs.

“The deputy minister himself said the cost of breast cancer treatment can be anywhere from RM50,000 to RM300,000, which is too high for some people and we know 1 out of four people in Malaysia will have cancer and information from the health ministry was that one out of 10 men will get cancer and one out of nine women will get cancer.

“Is this not a good reason to use compulsory licensing to reduce the cost of cancer medication as well,” he said addressing the deputy minister in a question in Dewan Rakyat today.

Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya (BN-Balik Pulau) said the country did not have permission from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to use rights of government for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer.

“We have to use other ways of dealing with the high costs like negotiating with companies. If one company reduce its prices other companies will reduce them as well,” he said.

Hilmi said the government understands the issues of the people when dealing with the high costs of medicine especially when dealing with innovator drugs (original drugs).

“The ministry has two approaches here when dealing with high medicine costs by using government rights to import cheaper medicine whether generic or original.

“For example the cost to treat a Hepatitis C patient is quite high as much as RM50,000 per person and in the country we have an estimated 500,000 patients with 2,000 new cases each year.

“So with this, the government has used rights of government and we are also negotiating with other countries for cheaper medicine,” he said.

In September, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam had said that the cabinet had approved the use of Rights of Government under Patent Act 1983 (Act 291) by exploiting the patented invention of the Sofosbuvir tablet 400mg, allowing the cost of treatment to be lowered.

“Hepatitis C has become a major public health concern in Malaysia, therefore it is crucial to increase access to treatment for the benefit of the nation,” he told reporters at the health ministry. -FMT