The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) yesterday debunked comments made by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that cited the Philippines as a major source of fake medicines, saying the USTR used data from an old study and did not account for recent efforts of the agency.
“The data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union IP Office (EUIPO) presented in the ‘Trade in Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Products’ publication dates back to 2014-2016. Thus, it fails to consider subsequent efforts taken and more recent data,” said Teodoro Pascua, IPOPHL deputy director-general, commenting on the USTR Special 301 report released last month.
Pascua in a statement said the agency is strengthening its efforts to ensure the pharmaceutical industry remains trusted and capacitated to combat the effects of counterfeiting.
He said IPOPHL partnered recently with the Pharmaceutical Security Institute to form a framework for capacity building, awareness and vital information exchange relevant to curb the circulation of counterfeit medicines.
Pascua added IPOPHL is also currently collecting data on counterfeiting reports from private pharmaceutical companies to have fuller and more accurate information on the amount of counterfeit medicines possibly sourced from the Philippines.
IEO data show pharmaceutical and medical products accounted for 4.4 percent of the total counterfeiting complaints and reports received by IPOPHL in 2021.
The Philippines has been out of the Special 301 watchlist for nine straight years, largely attributed to country’s efforts to battle IP rights violations and increase awareness
But the report alleged once again that the Philippines, along with China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan, is among the top countries that are sources of counterfeit medicines globally.
IPOPHL also said USTR did not provide details to support its allegation that “many countries, including India, Malaysia and the Philippines, reportedly have slow opposition or cancellation proceedings.”
Rowel Barba, IPOPHL director-general said the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) has introduced “game-changing” rules to reduce the timelines of the decision and disposal of these cases.
“The IPOPHL is right on track to make the opposition and cancellation proceedings one of the fastest in the Asean region, as our BLA targets to resolve this year the remaining opposition and cancellation cases filed in 2019 to 2021, including appeals to the director from the decisions of the adjudication officers,” Barba said. – Irma Isip
