President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. wants the country to step up local drug manufacturing and secure a stockpile of medicine in preparation for any emergency.

Marcos said this as he met with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) and officials from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in Malacañang on Wednesday, March 29.

In his remarks, the President said the idea of enhancing the local drug supply was due to supply problems that rose during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Let's maximize the local production. The initial reason why this came up is the supply problems that we encountered during the lockdowns, so we need to be prepared," he said.

"We should be able to produce the local supply of essential medicines," he added.

ng lokal na produksyon ng gamot, pagtugon sa kakulangan sa mga nurse at pagpapabuti ng sahod ng mga healthcare worker. Inatasan naman ang PSAC na pag-aralan ang pagkuha ng bagong medical technology at ang pagtatag ng remote diagnostics centers para sa mga malalayo sa pagamutan. pic.twitter.com/Wwm37f5566

— Presidential Communications Office (@pcogovph) March 29, 2023

The DOH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will work with the private sector to identify medicines that can be produced locally and maximize the utilization of the capacity of local pharmaceutical manufacturers, particularly the production of basic medications for poor Filipino patients, such as anti-tuberculosis drugs.

It was agreed during the meeting that the PSAC would monitor new technologies in healthcare that can be used for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and recommend those to the DOH and PhilHealth.

The PSAC shall also study the feasibility of establishing remote diagnostics centers and assess new medical technologies and their costs.

In line with the President's commitment to lower drug prices and improve access to medicines, the PSAC also pursued the strengthening of the FDA through the digitalization of its information systems (IS).

This project includes upgrading 10 IS, such as the electronic certificate of the product registration information system.

The PSAC said the target for complete digitalization is in August this year.

The advisory council said that once digitalized, other systems, such as new chemical entity renewal, certificate of listing of the identical drug product (CLIDP), and post-marketing surveillance, shall follow.