FDA adds 16 drugs to VAT-exempt list

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SIXTEEN drug products have been included by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the list of essential medicines exempted from Value-Added Tax (VAT) as provided by law.

Based on Advisory No. 2024-1618, the FDA said it has identified 16 more medicines to be exempted from VAT as provided by Republic Act No. 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

“FDA is directed to identify and transmit the VAT-exempt health products to other implementing agencies,” the FDA said.

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Added to the list are medicines for cancer Degarelix 80 mg, Degarelix 120 mg, Tremelimumab 25 mg/1.25 mL (20mg/mL), and Tremelimumab 300 mg/15 mL (20mg/mL).

Medicines for diabetes added to the list are Sitagliptin 25 mg, Sitagliptin (as hydrochloride) + Metformin Hydrochloride 50 mg/1 g, Sitagliptin (as hydrochloride) + Metformin Hydrochloride 50 mg/850 mg, Sitagliptin (As Hydrochloride) 25 mg, Sitagliptin (As Hydrochloride) 50 mg, Sitagliptin (As Hydrochloride) 100 mg, Sitagliptin (as hydrochloride monohydrate) 25 mg, Sitagliptin (as hydrochloride monohydrate) 50 mg, and Linagliptin 5 mg.

The FDA also included in the list medicines for mental illness, namely, Clomipramine Hydrochloride 25 mg, Chlorpromazine (as hydrochloride) 200 mg, and Midazolam 15 mg.

In a related development, the FDA said it is removing from the VAT-exempt list the drug product Human Chorionic Gonadotropin 5000 IU (previously identified as Chorionic Gonadotrophin).

This after the agency learned that the drug product is for the treatment of “anovulatory infertility or oligo-ovulatory and superovulation in women”, and “treatment of hypogonadism, cryptorchism, and delayed puberty associated with insufficient gonadotropic pituitary function in male.

“Hence, it is not classified as treatment for cancer, and shall be delisted from the subject list,” said the FDA.

Under the CREATE Act, certain health products including, drugs for hypertension, cancer, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, kidney diseases, diabetes, and high cholesterol, shall be exempted from VAT.

The law mandates the FDA to identify and transmit the list of VAT-exempt health products to other implementing agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

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