00:00The Food and Drug Administration beams with pride over its many achievements the past year.
00:06But the FTA is still aiming for more and is making a serious push
00:11to establish the country's very own hub for medical manufacturers or pharmaceutical and medical devices.
00:17PTV's Alan Francisco has more.
00:22Affordable medicines, support for micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs,
00:28and ease of doing business.
00:29These are just some of the achievements shared by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA,
00:35during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon program,
00:37highlighting their successes in 2024 and their plans for 2025.
00:41According to Director General Dr. Samuel Zacate,
00:44one of FDA's biggest accomplishments is the improvement of policies,
00:48such as the extension of the validity for the license to operate.
00:52Previously, the initial license was valid for three years with a five-year renewal.
00:57Now, it has been extended to six years.
00:59For the initial license and 12 years for renewal for distributors, manufacturers and importers.
01:05Additionally, MSMEs can now apply for a three-year initial license
01:10with a six-year renewal for their businesses.
01:12It will give more stability for the stakeholders in the company,
01:16for their product and for their operations to be more continuous,
01:19on top of our mandate to safeguard the public health through post-marketing survey.
01:24Because we are inspecting that.
01:26Along with this, the agency has initiated support for micro-small businesses
01:30in partnership with local governments, academic institutions and cooperatives across the country.
01:35This is in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.,
01:39who ordered the FDA to support local products.
01:42They continue to advocate for the establishment of a national hub
01:45for local medical manufacturers of pharmaceutical and medical devices.
01:49We also tap one of the PESA-declared zones, which is in Victoria, Tarlap.
01:54We also had an office there and a laboratory that is currently under construction.
01:59It will be completed by this year.
02:03And we will launch, eventually, the ribbon-cutting of the first-ever PharmaDevZone.
02:08And that happened during President Marcos' term.
02:10The FDA also proudly highlighted the acceleration of the regulatory process
02:15for pharmaceutical exports and active pharmaceutical ingredients,
02:18aimed at speeding up the approval of safe medicines.
02:22Meanwhile, the FDA is intensifying its focus on combating counterfeit medicines
02:27alongside initiatives to further expand the country's cosmetic industry.
