Pharmalink Philippines: Enhancing Filipino lives through medicine

Science has made leaps and bounds in the field of medicine, continually identifying diseases and developing drugs that can help alleviate and even cure these maladies. While the pharmaceutical industry remains competitive, organizations are nevertheless conscious of their responsibility not only to promote new medicine but also create awareness for the many illnesses that can affect people’s lives.

One such company that has made a mission of educating Filipinos about new scientific developments is PL Asia Pacific Philippines Inc., also known as Pharmalink, the local operations group of Asia Pacific’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing services partner. Pharmalink is a product of a three-way joint venture among Interpharma, a holding company of Zuellig Pharma, the leading Healthcare distributor in Asia Pacific, Singapore-based investment company Temasek Holdings, and the world’s leading clinical research organizations Quintiles Transnational.

The Philippine subsidiary and its operation in the country is geared towards achieving the vision of becoming a true and significant Pan Asia-Pacific pharmaceutical company. Having built a solid reputation in healthcare sales and marketing excellence, with presence in 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region, Pharmalink aims to sustain its position as the number one marketing services healthcare partner in this part of the world.

Pharmalink Philippines offers a diverse range of marketing services and business models to serve the needs of their clients. "We provide regulatory services, market research and feasibility studies, in-licensing, acquisition of brand or portfolio of products from research-based MNCs, contract sale sand marketing organization," said Pharmalink Philippine president Tito Tolentino. "We also offer the agency business model, wherein our company operates as the licensed agent for a pharmaceutical company."

The company is currently focused in creating awareness of diseases and new drugs in the fields of gastroenterology, rheumatology and orthopaedics, dermatology, cardiology, and endocrinology. To this end, Pharmalink has also established partnerships with leading multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Dr. Falk, GMBH, Rottapharm, Louis Widmer, Intendis, Pierre-Fabre, among others.

To share their knowledge of latest developments in these fields of studies, Pharmalink Philippines regularly holds various marketing activities. "We conduct symposiums, wherein we invite medical experts to discuss new ailments and explain the use and benefits of our products," related Tolentino. "We also invite key opinion leaders in round table discussion, which we hold in a national level with both foreign and local experts as resource speakers."

One recent activity was a symposium on Osteoarthritis which Pharmalink organized together with Rottapharm, and in cooperation with the Philippine Orthopedic Association and the Philippine Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. Osteroarthritis and osteoporosis expert professor Reginster, currently the director of WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health Aspects of Rheumatic Disorders and the Head of University Center for Investigation in bone and Cartilage Metabolism, University of Liege, Belgium, discussed the effects of this debilitating and painful disease, now suffered by millions of people around the world, and shared the benefits of Rottapharm’s Viartril-S, one of the most trusted and proven brands of crystalline Glucosamine Sulfate which helps relieve the pain and symptoms of osteoarthritis.