Did they or did they not?
Reacting to the recent Senate Inquiry wherein Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile told that Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company bribed the government in order to stop the implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Law, Pfizer Philippines' Corporate Legal Counsel Millete Asuncion clarified that Enrile's accusations are not true.
This surfaced after Reiner Gloor, executive director of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines, testified to the Senate and said that Pfizer Philippines reportedly made an offer to the Department of Health before the list of the maximum retail price (MRP) for essential medicines was released last month.
Pfizer allegedly offered the government five million discount cards with an estimated worth of P100 million.
As has been in previous controversies, the name of President Gloria Arroyo is once again being dragged into the issue. The Senate has summoned the President, after she has allegedly conducted a secret meeting with multinational pharmaceutical firms last week.
President Arroyo, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Trade Secretary Peter Fabila, and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Jr., however, did not attend the inquiry.
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