Pinoy drugmaker to export herbal medicines next year

Altermed Corp., a subsidiary of local drugmaker Pascual Laboratories, is aiming to carve a niche in the global biopharm industry as it starts exporting indigenous herbal medicines in 2007.

"We have been receiving a lot of inquiries from various foreign pharmaceutical companies wanting to market our herbal medicines and we are in serious talks with a number of these companies. Before the end of the year, we should be able to strike a deal and start shipping our products abroad," said Dr. Francis Wade Gomez, president of Altermed.

Gomez said among the products Altermed hopes to export next year include its newest product launched recently in Southern Mindanao. "Dolgesic," is an analgesic derived from Yerba Buena, a herb of the mint family. It is an aromatic plant used as herbal medicine worldwide. In the Philippines, Yerba Buena is one of the 10 herbs endorsed by the Department of Heath (DOH) as an effective alternative medicine for aches and pains.

"Our clinical researches and trials show that Dolgesic is as potent as the other branded analgesics sold in the market today. Ours is better though because it does not have the side effects, it is non-inflammatory and non-steroidial," said Gomez.

Dolgesic, according to Gomez, was developed by a consortium led by the National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants and was funded by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

"For our part, we acquired the exclusive license to commercialize the package of technology that was developed by the consortium. It is the same scheme that we employed to commercialize our other herbal medicines," said Gomez.

To gear up for the export market, Altermed is currently improving its products, particularly in coming up with standardized extracts for its natural ingredients to ensure consistent quality of each item churned out from its manufacturing facility.

Altermed products lined up for export, aside from Dolgesic, include Ascof derived from lagundi herb and is used for cough problems; Daban from banaba which is used to lower cholesterol levels; Amargozin derived from ampalaya or bitter gourd and is used as dietary supplement for diabetics; and Releaf from sambong which is effective for people with kidney stones.

Dolgesic, Releaf and Ascof are being marketed as drugs while Amargozin and Daban are classified as dietary or food supplements. The pioneering herbal products – Ascof and Releaf – were awarded Silver Medals at the 25th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1997.

Gomez said his company is looking at various opportunities, particularly in the steadily increasing therapeutic markets.

"We can sell our products as raw material or finished goods. In the United States, we cannot at this point sell it as a drug, maybe as food supplement, but in the ASEAN region we can already sell it as a drug," said Gomez.

He said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) scheduled harmonization of standards for medicine and food supplements by 2010 would be to the advantage of companies like Altermed.