PHAP pushes wider access to innovative medicines

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) is calling for stronger healthcare financing, expanded medicine coverage and closer public-private collaboration to improve Filipino patients’ access to innovative treatments as it marks its 80th anniversary.

Through its Health for Juan and Juana platform, PHAP is bringing together government officials, patient groups, healthcare professionals, industry representatives and academe to address barriers preventing patients from accessing medicines when they need them.

The initiative centers on the forum “Breaking Barriers to Medicine Access: Kalusugang Abot-Kamay nina Juan at Juana,” which examines ways to make medicines more available and affordable while strengthening the healthcare system’s ability to deliver treatments nationwide.

“Over the past 80 years, we have seen remarkable advances in medicines and healthcare. But life-saving innovation can only make a meaningful difference when it reaches the patients who need it,” said PHAP President Dr. Diana Edralin.

“As we mark this milestone, our focus is on working with our partners to help build a more resilient and responsive health system where all Filipinos can benefit from these advances in a timely and sustainable way,” she added.

PHAP reaffirmed its support for the Department of Health’s Unified National Agenda for Health and committed to working with the DOH and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to strengthen primary care.

Its priorities include expanding the PhilHealth GAMOT Program, making the Philippine National Drug Formulary more responsive to patients’ needs and broadening PhilHealth benefits to improve access to essential and innovative treatments.

PHAP also called for improvements in hospital services, healthcare financing, medicine procurement and supply chain planning to ensure treatments and vaccines reach patients in cities, provincial communities and remote areas.

“Improving medicine access is not a challenge any one sector can solve alone—it demands deep integration and real follow-through. By bringing together the collective strengths of government, healthcare providers, patient advocacy groups, and the private sector, we can dismantle these barriers together. The time to act as one unified healthcare ecosystem is now,” Edralin said.

PHAP Executive Director Teodoro Padilla said sustainable access requires improvements beyond the medicines themselves.

“Building sustainable access means looking beyond the medicine itself. We also have to strengthen the pathways, financing and systems that allow innovations to reach patients efficiently and consistently,” Padilla said.

“The goal is to make sure that progress in science and long years of complex biopharmaceutical research translate into progress that Filipino patients can actually experience. It has always been our mission for the last eight decades, and we are proud of this PHAP legacy where we could help save lives and contribute to economic progress,” he added.