Garin ‘strongly denies’ negotiating dengue vaccine price

Former Health Secretary Janette Garin on Thursday disproved reports that she negotiated with Sanofi Pasteur, a French pharmaceutical giant and manufacturer of Dengvaxia, on the price of the anti-dengue vaccine which was sold to the Philippines. (Photo: DOH’s official Facebook page)

Former Health Secretary Janette Garin on Thursday disproved reports that she negotiated with Dengvaxia manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur for the price of the anti-dengue vaccine sold to the Philippines.

“I strongly deny that. I did not negotiate with the price. Sanofi came to the Philippines and presented their proposal to the government,” Garin said during the joint hearing of the Senate blue ribbon, health and finance committees.

Asked by Senator Richard Gordon if she asked Sanofi to decrease the cost of the Dengvaxia, Garin answered, “I just made a joke and I said, ‘Sana po (I hope it is) buy one, take one ‘yan. If the private [sector] buys one, give one to the government.’ But I never negotiated the price.”

The 3.5 billion dengue vaccination program was launched in April 2016 during Garin’s term as health chief.

The timeline of events given to the Senate panels stated that Garin “negotiated with Sanofi to reduce the cost of the vaccines on June 9, 2015.”

According to the timeline, the alleged negotiation happened after Garin flew to Paris on May 14, 2015, met with the executives of Sanofi, and conversed about the cost of the vaccine over dinner.

Garin earlier denied that she met with Sanofi officials in 2015 to discuss details about the dengue vaccine. However, she later retraced and admitted that she dined with the representatives to talk about Dengvaxia.

“Tama po ‘yun, nagkamali po talaga ako kasi (It is true, I made a mistake) I was being asked on a dinner that happened 2 years ago,” Garin was quoted as saying in an ABS-CBN report.

Following this meeting, Sanofi submitted on October 29 an application to include Dengvaxia in the Philippine National Formulary (PNF) pending the Certificate of Product Registration (CPR) issuance of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

On the Senate panel hearing on Monday, Garin discredited claims of corruption and conspiracy in the procurement of the P3.5 billion-worth Dengvaxia vaccines.

Gordon earlier speculated its procurement which have been suspended following Sanofi’s statement that it could worsen the disease on people who not been infected by dengue prior to the vaccination.