Parallel imports may open floodgates for entry of fake drugs to RP, says GSK

The proliferation of counterfeit drugs in the country could be partly attributed to government’s parallel drug importation program, a top executive of an international pharmaceutical company said yesterday.

Amado T. Tadena, president and managing director of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said counterfeit drugs now comprise between 10 percent to 15 percent of all drugs being sold in the local market, posing a continuing problem to the $1-billion pharmaceutical industry.

GSK is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and health care companies. It relaunched yesterday its Value Health program that offers quality medicines for common diseases at reduced costs.

These medicines are trusted brands that are leading their therapeutic categories and have had a long history of clinical experience.

Tadena said contrary to the government’s claim that it buys directly from manufacturers in India, the government, he pointed out, imports from "just any drug store in India."

"They don’t buy from us," Tadena said, referring to multinational companies as GSK does not have any presence in India.

Counterfeit drugs, Tadena warned, pose a health risk and has endangered the lives of some unsuspecting buyers.

GSK has come up with its Value Health program in response to the need for cheaper medicines.

The GSK Value Health Program began in 2004 with original research brands such as amoxicillin, salbutamol, allopurinol, metoclopramide, and dicycloverine, in response to local patients’ needs for affordable trusted medicines to treat common ailments.

The GSK Value Health Program also addresses doctors’ need for reliable medicines that have a reputation of safety, efficacy, quality, and affordability, helping them prescribe with confidence.

The program answers the government’s appeal for improved health care for all Filipinos and corresponds well with the GSK mission of "improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, and live longer".

This year, as a continuous commitment to meet the program’s objectives and promote social responsibility, GSK expanded Value Health to include brands acquired from Eli Lilly.

The medicines - cefaclor, erythromycin and cefalexin – are also original-research brands that have a long heritage of quality and dependability.

Part of the Value Health program expansion also includes GSK’s product of original research, the leading anti-ulcerant brand ranitidine (Zantac(tm)75) and cimetidine also for gastro-intestinal disorders.

Other brands included in the program are another first-line antibiotic co-trimoxazole, a cough preparation ambroxol (Ambrolex(tm)) and paracetamol (Calpol).

These medicines, now more affordable through Value Health, are some of the widely used and prescribed by doctors for common illnesses such as hyperacidity, flu, asthma, respiratory tract infection, bacterial infections, tuberculosis, gout, stomach spasm, nausea, and symptomatic relief from cough and fever.

Medicines under the Value Health program have reduced prices from five percent to as much 34 percent off original prices.

Customers will find that these retail prices are competitive with other brands in their corresponding categories, and are therefore among the most affordable quality brands in the market today.

GSK guarantees its brands’ first-rate quality based on its reputable research and its partners worldwide.

These Value Health medicines are available locally at all drugstores nationwide.

Value Health is an integral part of the company’s thrust of bringing its expertise closer to the people and the medical community.

It continues to evaluate the program’s viability to assure positive benefits for the majority.

But most medicines included in the program are prescription products and therefore require a physician’s supervision.