Demand prompts Uniherb to bring in more products

CEBU, Philippines - Taking advantage of the surging demand for herbal-based alternative medicines in the market, Cebu-based Uniherb Corporation is set to introduce 12 more supplement brands in the next three years.

Uniherb, the company that provides the popular arthritis food supplement—Arthro, will be expanding its product line in the next few years, which will cover the “cure-all” supplement, whitening, slimming, and beauty.

Uniherb Corporation president and chief executive officer (CEO) Jonathan Guardo told the Cebu media in a press conference, that he is confident that despite the tough competition nowadays in the alternative medicine industry, their huge investments in advertising as well as tapping known personalities to endorse the product, will give them a secure lead in the competition.

He said the prospect for alternative medicine in the Philippines is very promising, just like the worldwide trend.

Recently, the company spent at least P3 million to produce an advertising material for Uniherb’s flagship brand—Arthro, that is endorsed by former President Joseph Estrada. Guardo claimed that because this is the first product (across categories) being endorsed by a former President, this is expected to make a history in the alternative medicine industry.

Guardo, however, downplayed impressions that the introduction of the Erap-endorsed advertisement is merely a “political ploy” to give boost to Erap’s 2010 election plans.

The P3 million investment of the Uniherb is only for the production of the advertisement, another multi-million peso investment will be spent to pay the prime-time television advertising placements, radio and newspapers, Guardo said.

Aside from Arthro, Uniherb has five more food supplement brands, each claims to control or cure top Filipino health problems, such as Heartvit (for the heart), Kidney Care (Kidney problem), Diabet (Diabetes), Ethan (Vertigo problem), and Eye Berry (eye problem).

Uniherb is a bulk buyer of generic US-made food supplement products. The company formulates its own brand name for each food supplement for the Philippine market.

This year, other brands will be launched that are for slimming, and energy-boosting, these are Slimma, and HardMan brands.

Guardo claimed that the Arthro brand which was introduced in 2006, is one of the first food supplement products for Arthritis being made available in the Philippine market, thus it gained 80 percent market share in the next two years from product launching.

Because of fierce competition, Guardo said Arthro’s market share declined by 40 percent in recent years, but he claimed that the brand still dominates in this specific category.

Guardo believes that putting huge investments in advertising as well as using the right endorsers, is one of the primary tools for a product to succeed.

Although it is tempting to establish research and development (R&D) facility here, for the company to develop its own food supplement product, he said it is more economical to import ready-made generic food supplement from the US. — Ehda M. Dagooc