The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) assured that the country has the logistics to back up the manufacturing and distribution of Covid-19 and other vaccines amid the pandemic.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in a TV interview on Wednesday that importing vaccine input for fill-and-finish production would need logistics support, citing the temperature requirement for storage.
“When you talk of that, you are talking of required temperature in these different vaccines,” he said. “We have the means to import, to manufacture and to distribute.”
Out of eight pharmaceutical firms that expressed interest, Lopez said, two of them are already in the advanced stage of their application to set up a vaccine facility in the country. The trade official named one of them, Dr. Zen Biotech Inc., noting that he is still confirming if the other pharmaceutical company would be willing to be disclosed.
The said two companies already have secured technology partners owning vaccine brands and undergone research and development, he said.
“They have the facilities, it is a matter of expanding and adding more equipment [to allow] import-fill-finish type of operation,” he added.
To qualify as a vaccine manufacturer, Lopez said, the applicants should have already gained emergency use authorization for their doses to allow distribution.
The DTI chief explained that the potential vaccine manufacturers are not only producing Covid-19 jabs, but also other necessary doses in demand.
While the finished products are intended for local consumption, Lopez said, the vaccine manufacturers may also reexport their doses.
“They will have that market and more or less, and an assurance that they can sell in the country, but there is nothing preventing them from reexporting some part of it,” Lopez noted.
As such, Lopez pitched that the accepted vaccine manufacturers be given at least preliminary volume commitment to attract more companies in the country.
The trade official also said that vaccine manufacturers would be granted tax perks based on the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. Under CREATE, the investment priority plan cites the pharmaceutical sector as one of the critical industries.
In May, the Anti-Red Tape Authority, along with DTI and other government agencies, established a green lane through a joint memorandum circular for vaccine manufacturing applicants, setting the processing period for 20 days or less. This mandate hopes to allow the company to set up a facility within 10 months of the approval.
In anticipation of Covid-19 vaccine demand next year, Lopez said that the Philippine International Trading Corp., which is the purchasing arm of DTI, may consolidate the purchases to lower the prices.