The House of Representatives may soften its stand on the controversial cheaper medicines bill. In an interview, Speaker Jose de Venecia urged the proponents of the Cheaper Medicines Act to consider the request of doctors to remove the provision on the “prescription of generic names of drugs.” De Venecia already said he talked to the principal author of the bill, Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, to open a dialogue with doctors. “I talked to him [Biron] over the phone to consider or include the request of the doctors in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and in Metro Manila,”de Venecia said. But de Venecia said that doctors should also appeal to senators since the bill will be acted upon by the both chambers of Congress. Members of the Philippine Medical Association earlier threatened to stage a “hospital … Read entire article »