THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working closely with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to make some essential medicines more affordable for senior citizens.

FDA Director General Samuel Zacate said the two agencies were now determining how to exempt certain medicines from the value-added tax (VAT) that would be consistent with the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) Act.

"Basically, the exemption for VAT is through a law — the Create Act. So, those medicines have to be declared by the FDA, and then endorsed to the BIR for the removal of the VAT," Zacate said in a news forum over the weekend.

The Create Act or Republic Act 11534 provides VAT exemption to certain medicines for hypertension, cancer, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, kidney diseases, diabetes and high cholesterol, as well as drugs and medical devices for the treatment of the coronavirus disease.

In line with the Create Act, Zacate said the FDA was directed to identify and transmit their list of approved medicines for VAT exemption to other implementing agencies such as BIR.

"So, FDA would be the one to determine the mechanism... It's a joint process of the FDA and the BIR," he said.

"Basically, once the BIR issues a directive, it is automatically VAT-exempted. It's implementation would be strict," he added.

Last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the FDA to implement a 20 percent discount and VAT exemption for senior citizens under RA 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.