NEWS BITS 2019

PCHRD Supports Local Medical Device Development

The Philippine Council of Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) reiterates the support of the office in the development of local medical devices last March 15, 2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center on the 37^th anniversary of the PCHRD themed “International Conference on Health Research and Industry 4.0”

A breakout session for the development of medical devices was held where mostly representatives from the industry and academe attended. The forum involves talk on how other countries were able to develop their local medical devices like that in Singapore and how the Indian economy encourages development of local medical device industry, on top of medical device discovery and development presentations. There were a lot of regulatory questions raised but there was no invitation to PAMDRAP and most of those questions remained unanswered. A PCHRD research grant on “Hospital Equipment and Biomedical Devices” has been available for some time to enhance global competitiveness and innovation in the Philippines which is a priority under the National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA). Visit PCHRD website for details.

PPhA at 99 and Kick off for the Centennial

          Last August 29, 2019 at the Manila Hotel at around 1PM, the 99^th celebration of the founding of the Philippine Pharmacists Association was held and this marks the year long celebration onwards the centennial year. The celebration started with a reminiscing of the passing years of PPhA by the senior members, awarding of the past PPhA presidents followed; Olivia Limuaco PhD, Leonila Ocampo MSc and Norma lerma ScD were recipients of the award. At the conclusion of the event, launching of the centennial logo, mascot, song and jingle took place. Long live PPhA!

Medical Device and Regulatory Affairs Subjects in the Revised BS Pharmacy Curriculum

          The revised BS Pharmacy curriculum draft has been unofficially released during the evaluation by the stake holders but the final document has not been approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). At around 2016, a 5-year BS Pharmacy curriculum has been envisioned by the Filipino key opinion leaders in Pharmacy but it was reverted back to a 4-year curriculum after worries of loosing enrollees by many of the member schools/universities of the Philippine Association of the Colleges of Pharmacy (PACOP). The current draft of the curriculum includes a Medical Device suffix added to the Drug Delivery Systems, calling the subject “Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Drug Delivery Systems and Medical Devices”. The internship areas has also been widen to 5 from 3 areas and one of the areas added is Regulatory Affairs, a separate CHED memorandum order though will be released soon for the BS Pharmacy internship guidelines.