Del Rosario v.

Bengzon
GR No. 88265
December 21, 1989

Facts:
Philippine Medical Association is the national organization of
medical doctors in the Philippines. They assail the constitutionality of
some of the provisions of the Generics Act of 1988 (Rep. Act 6675) and
the implementation of Administrative Order No. 62.
The law specifically provides that “All government health agencies.
shall use generic terminology or generic names in all transactions.
related to purchasing, prescribing, dispensing, and administering of
drugs and medicines. It also includes medical, dental, and veterinary,
private practitioners shall write prescriptions using the generic.
name.
The petitioner’s main argument is the alleged unequal treatment of
government practitioners and those on private practice. It is
because the former are required to use only generic terminology in
the prescription while the latter may write the brand name of the
drug below the generic name. It is allegedly a specie of invalid class.
legislation.
In addition, the petitioners gave a distorted interpretation of RA.
6675 and Admin Order No. 62 saying that the salesgirl and or Druggists have the discretion to
substitute the doctor’s prescription.
The court says that the salesgirl at the drugstore counter merely.
informs the customer, but does not determine all the other drug
products or brands that have the same generic name and their
prices.

Issue: Whether or not the Generics Act is constitutional as to the

exercise of police power by the government.

Held: Petition Dismissed.

The court has been unable to find any constitutional infirmity in the
Generics Act. It implements the constitutional mandate for the State
“to protect and promote the right to health of the people” and “to
make essential goods, health, and other social services available to
all the people at affordable cost”.
The alleged unequal treatment of government physicians, dentists
and veterinarians on one hand and those in the private practice in
the other, is a misinterpretation of the law.
The salesgirl at the drugstore counter merely informs the customer
of all available products, but does not determine all the other drug
products or brands that have the same generic name and their
corresponding process.
The penal sanction in violation of the law is indispensable because
they are the teeth of the law. Without them, the law would be
toothless.
The Generics Act and the implementing administrative orders of the
Secretary of Health are constitutional.
The purpose of the Generics Act is to “promote and require the use
of generic drug products that are therapeutically equivalent to their
brand name counterparts”. The effect of the drug does not depend
on its brand but on the active ingredients which it contains.