Rx: Affordable quality medicines during crisis

MANILA, Philippines – The recent economic downturn has left many Filipinos working harder than ever. Threat of unemployment as businesses close and rising inflation have made them resort to different ways to pay the bills. Certainly, getting sick is the last thing we want to happen to us, but it is often inevitable and the current situation is expected to further increase the risk of various stress-related illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases and lower immunity against infections.

Nowadays, there’s an urgent need for affordable healthcare, especially low-priced quality medicines.

Pharex HealthCorp heeds this call with the launch of Pharex Economix, the company’s advocacy to provide Filipinos access to a wide range of premium quality but affordable medicines.

According to Tomas Marcelo Agana III, president of Pharex HealthCorp, this program has been a long-term company commitment. “For the past 20 years, we have been providing Filipinos affordable quality uni-branded medicines. And today, it has become even more relevant because of the current financial crisis. We are launching Pharex Economix to aid our countrymen to achieve and maintain optimum health despite the trying times.”

At the heart of Pharex Economix are sound economic principles, geared towards giving the best healthcare option to consumers at the best price.

To achieve this goal, Pharex puts a firm hold on its prices by sourcing materials in the open, global market, allowing it to choose quality suppliers at the most competitive prices in contrast to the practice of transfer pricing by many multinational pharmaceutical companies. Transfer pricing relies on a pre-set suppliers of raw materials at substantial margins, often manifested in “royalty fees” paid by multinational pharmaceutical companies. Because Pharex is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the all-Filipino pharmaceutical giant Pascual Laboratories, it does not have to pay these “royalty fees,” giving it immense control over the pricing of its medicines. Also, having multiple suppliers gives Pharex the opportunity to choose the highest quality ingredients for the manufacture of their products. Therefore, Pharex is able to give consumers access to a wide range of high-quality medications at less cost.

We also know that consumers indirectly pay for the cost of marketing and advertising. And because Pharex is a uni-brand for 33 products, its advertising and promotions are more cost-effective. In other words, having only one brand means a huge reduction on the price of its wide selection of medicines.

“There are so many brands on the market today,” says Dr. Abraham Pascual, the indefatigable spirit behind Pascual Laboratories. “But you don’t have to worry about all these brands, just stick to our brand because Pharex stands for pharmaceutical excellence. We’re helping both the doctors and consumers as far as decision-making is concerned. We can assure them that we stand by the quality of our products, we are affordable but we don’t want to say we’re cheap, and we’ve been around for quite a while (63 years).”

With prices almost 50-percent lower than other brands, Pharex offers an extensive selection of medicines to combat varied specific diseases: amoebicide, anti-infectives, analgesics/antipyretics, anti-diarrheal, anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-ulcerant, anti-tuberculosis, anti-viral, vitamins, cough and cold preparations, and topical corticosteroids.

Furthermore, since Pharex continuously strengthens its relationship with leading drugstores, Filipinos are guaranteed to find these value-for-money medicines in pharmacies nationwide. Pharex responds to the times with affordable and accessible medicines.These are the main economic thrusts of Pharex Economix, giving consumers the freedom to choose, the advantage of economies of scale, and harnessing the power of competition.

Through these economic concepts, Pharex then gives every consumer the liberty to achieve good health through good medicines at good prices. Now more than ever, the Filipino is empowered to take hold of his most important asset — his health — to make it through tough times.