No Rights of Govt for cancer drugs

Minister: Disease not a public health issue

We will have to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices.

Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya

THERE are no plans to use the Rights of Government provision to import cheaper drugs for breast and colorectal cancer treatment.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said this was because cancer was not a communicable disease or a public health issue.

“As of now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not approved the use of the Rights of Government provision to import cheaper generic or innovator drugs for the purpose,” he said in reply to a question by Charles Santiago (DAP-Klang).

Besides this, he noted that cancer was treated using innovator drugs as there were no generic substitutes.

“We will have to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices,” he said.

Dr Hilmi said this was successfully done in 2003 for anti-retroviral drugs to treat HIV infection.

“We negotiated with a company to lower the price of its medicines and other companies followed suit,” he added.

At present, Dr Hilmi said, colorectal and breast cancer were the highest cause of cancer deaths among Malaysian men and women, followed by lung cancer.

He said the cost of treating cancer varied between RM50,000 and RM300,000 depending on the treatment.

To ensure better access to cancer treatment, Dr Hilmi said the ministry was studying the implementation of a Patient Register Scheme and Generic Drug Registry.

On the Rights of Government provision being used, he said WHO had approved cheaper generic drugs to treat Hepatitis C patients here.

“We’re negotiating with Egypt to import cheaper drugs for Hepatitis C patients,” he said.

Earlier, Santiago lauded the Government’s effort to lower the cost of Hepatitis C medication from RM375,000 to RM500.

But he said similar moves should be made for those suffering from breast and colorectal cancer, which affects one in nine Malaysians.