Philippines Caps Prices of Covid Tests, Eyes Sinovac Vaccines

In this Sept. 24, 2020, file photo, an employee manually inspects syringes of the SARS CoV-2 Vaccine for COVID-19 produced by Sinovac at its factory in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

By Ian Sayson

The Philippines has set a price cap for COVID-19 swab tests amid complaints of exorbitant and wide price disparity, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said.

The price for real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR test is capped at P5,000 ($104) in private hospitals and P3,800 in government laboratories, Duque said in a briefing. Some testing centers have charged as much as P13,000 for the tests.

The Philippines, which has the second-worst outbreak in Southeast Asia, plans to buy as many as 50 million doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said in a separate briefing. U.S.-based Novavax Inc. is another possible vaccine source, he said.

Key Insights

• Hospitals, laboratories that violate price cap on RT-PCR test will be fined up to 30,000 pesos, have license suspended up to a month, Duque said. License to conduct tests will be revoked for three-time violators, he said.

• Government is looking to impose price cap for other test kits, including antigen tests.

• AstraZeneca Plc has already submitted complete documents for clinical trial of its vaccine in the country, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.