Five Important Drugs Now at Half Price

Thanks to an executive order that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed, 5 crucial drugs' prices have dropped 50% or more.

Executive Order No. 821 imposes a 50-percent price reduction or a maximum retail price (MRP) on five other essential medicines whose prices their manufacturers have refused to voluntarily bring down.

These are the anti-hypertensive drug amlodipine, anti-cholesterol drug atorvastatin, the anti-biotic/antibacterial drug azith-romycin, the anti-neoplastics/anticancer drugs cytarabine, and doxorubicin.

The prices of the other pharmaceutical products—many of which were essential medicines—were voluntarily lowered by their respective producers following an appeal from Ms Arroyo.