RMC No. 72-2023: Publishes the May 22, 2023 letter from the Food and Drug Administration of the DOH endorsing updates to the List of VAT-Exempt Medicines under RA No. 10963 (TRAIN Law) and RA No. 11534 (CREATE Act)

Key points

1. Updated medicine list. The list now includes certain medicines for cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, kidney disease, mental illness and tuberculosis. It also corrects a medicine for hypertension and deletes a medicine for cancer.
2. Effectivity of exemption. Per Q&A No. 1 of RMC No. 99-2021, the VAT exemption of covered medicines and medical devices under the CREATE Act starts on the date the FDA publishes the list updates.

Who is affected

• Sellers and buyers of the listed medicines

Deadlines and effectivity

• Exemption effective on the date of FDA publication of the updates