Urgent need to regulate medicine prices in Malaysia

LETTER | Medicines are not a commodity. Healthcare is a basic consumer right and a major component of healthcare is the administration of medicines. Medicines cure people and should never be treated as just another commodity where pricing and accessibility are determined by market forces. 

The government has a critical role to play to ensure that all consumers, especially the low and middle-income earners, have access to affordable medicines.

A market review on the pharmaceutical sector was undertaken by the Malaysia Competition Commission. According to the report, “Malaysian drug prices are high by international standards.” It appears that the pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia are making exorbitant profits by international standards. 

In another study, it was found that “Malaysia has on average higher retail prescription prices compared to Australia due to the lack of pharmaceutical regulation.”

Further, according to the Pharmaceutical Services Programme, Ministry of Health Malaysia (2018) on Medicines Prices Monitoring Malaysia (2017), wholesale medicine prices in Malaysia are eight times greater than the International Reference Price (IRP). 

Further, according to the Penang Institute, the median mark-up for originator and lowest-priced generics in private hospitals was 51 percent and 167 percent respectively.

Based on the above unjust situation referring to the excessive medicine prices Malaysian consumers need to pay, the Ministry of Health is working on a mechanism of medicine pricing that will put in place a regulatory framework to ensure access to medicines at fair prices for the rakyat. 

The essence of the mechanism is that prices along the supply chain must be transparent and there would be a ceiling price at the level of wholesale and consumer prices.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an “affordable and fair price” is one that can be funded by patients and health budgets and simultaneously sustains research and development, production and distribution within a country. 

Further, WHO proposes that all nations, high-income and low-income, in their efforts towards universal health coverage, should have policy measures to control and regulate the price of medicines.

Without price control in Malaysia, in the so-called “free market” currently, medicine prices in Malaysia are “high by international standards”, “higher then medicine prices in Australia” and “wholesale medicine prices are eight times higher than the International Reference Price”. 

The time to regulate medicine prices is way overdue.

Yet the response by Big Pharma against a fair and just price for medicines is extremely negative. As expected, with the high prices being charged, they would want to minimise any form of regulation that would impact their profits. While making profits is obviously justifiable by any private company, excessive profits on medicines would have a serious negative impact on patients and consumer well-being. 

Excuses such as medical tourism would be affected if medicine prices are controlled just indicate that some companies are more interested in making money from medical tourism, rather than ensuring Malaysian patients have access to affordable medicines.

Fomca strongly supports the government's initiative to regulate medicines in Malaysia to make them more affordable for the rakyat. 

While it cannot be denied that there are many challenges in implementing a price regulation for medicines, the efforts of the Pharmaceutical Services Division of the Ministry of Health must be given the fullest support by all consumers in their efforts to make medicines more affordable for Malaysian patients and consumers.

The writer is chief executive officer, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca).

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.