The Philippines Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may allow establishments with no physical stores to sell OTC drugs online, according to Manila Standard, a Philippines-based news outlet.
Dr. Oscar Gutierrez, Chief of Policy Formulation and Program Division as Officer-in-Charge of Policy Planning Service (PPS), said the FDA is drafting guidelines on “e-pharmacy,” which will be released for the public comment in the Philippines.
He said in a televised public briefing, “There’s a limitation. We will only allow non-prescription drugs to be sold. In the future, establishments do not need to have a physical store. But they definitely will be required to have an office and an identified warehouse where the drugs will be sourced. We will release the draft guidelines for public comment.”
Dr. Gutierrez said the FDA has been conducting operations on 50 sari-sari stores that sell fake analgesic and antipyretic medicines, urging consumers to check the agency’s verification portal. He said those stores were located in some provinces of the Philippines.
“We continue to gather reports from our regional field offices,” he added.
The Philippines FDA has also approved the emergency use of generic brands of molnupiravir, a COVID antiviral pill. Furthermore, the regulatory body is evaluating Pfizer’s Paxlovid, another COVID antiviral pill.
Dr. Gutierrez said generic drugs are usually sold for 30% to 50% less than their brand-name counterpart. He said, “These will be delivered by the DOH to health facilities and healthcare providers, which will administer and provide these to patients.”
Molnupiravir is a prescription drug used for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adult patients. The Philippines FDA chief said, “The patient should take this [drug] under the strict supervision of a physician.”
The agency has also approved the antigen self-test kit developed by Getein Biotech. The company has forwarded more than 50 self-test kits to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) for performance validation.
Dr. Gutierrez said, “If the applicant does not comply with RITM’s requirements for evaluation, it’s possible it would not be issued a performance validation.” He also said that Pfizer has submitted its application for emergency use of Paxlovid, adding, “It’s now under evaluation. I can give updates in the coming days.”
