GSK bullish on Phl consumer healthcare market

MANILA, Philippines - With seven out of 10 Filipinos suffering from regular headaches and over half from muscle aches and pains in the past three months, such is the need for an effective, safe and fast relief. As one of the leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in the world, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is stepping up to this challenge in pain medication.

Recently, GSK announced the brand entry and launch of Panadol, one of the world’s leading paracetamol-based pain relievers. Panadol has been relieving the pain of people in 85 countries for over 50 years now. In 2013 alone, over 15 billion Panadol tablets were sold worldwide.

“GSK sees the Philippines as a very important marketplace for a number of reasons,” says John Sayers, president of Consumer Healthcare for Asia, Pacific and Latin America. “First, you got a very big population of 98 million. That’s a massive population. From the last time I was here two years ago, the phase of change was big here. You see a great economic growth here, the Philippines is the second fastest growing market in Asia and you got seven percent GDP growth. I think that’s wonderful because there’s potential here to build businesses.”

Sayers, who flew in to Manila for the Panadol launch, says that because of the country’s overall economic growth, people have become economically able to buy healthcare solutions. “That’s important for GSK to make these healthcare solutions available. GSK has been here in the Philippines for 15 years and we want to grow on that heritage and bring more global brands here.”

According to Jeoffrey Yulo, general manager of Consumer Healthcare for GSK Philippines, the company leverages on its deep understanding of the Filipino market and considers it one of Panadol’s competitive advantage in the pain medication area. “GSK has a global heritage and the brand is very strong. The key point is that while paracetamol is paracetamol, we offer a solution when people say that they want their pain to be relieved right away. In this case, we’re offering the fast relief.”

“We know from the times that we’ve been in many markets including the Philippines, people’s lifestyle is becoming faster and very busy. People are running around faster than they used to so you really can’t afford to take time to suffer from pain. You want to get on with your life. But more importantly, you want time to look after your family, that’s why people want fast relief,” observes Sayers.

Yulo says that not all paracetamols are created equal. For one, Panadol has the Optizorb technology with a disintegration system that allows the release of its medicine in as little as five minutes. The pain reliever also has the broad suitability associated with standard paracetamol, hence, it will not irritate the stomach and can even be taken on an empty stomach or by pregnant women when used as directed.

“I’m very proud to say that Panadol is being produced in the Philippines. We’re the only pharmaceutical company that still have the facilities in the Philippines. That’s something we can be proud of in products like this. It’s a global leader and it’s produced in our own soil,” says Yulo.

Sayers notes that the critical point about the Philippines, being one of GSK’s investment markets, is to make its products more accessible and affordable. “We’re adding more people to make sure we have the right infrastructure. Panadol is a market leader in many markets in the world. I think from the marketing point of view, what we need to do is to make sure we communicate the benefit of this product to healthcare professionals (doctors and pharmacists) as well as to consumers. We need to make sure our message is clean and clear and they understand that there’s a difference between these (pain reliever) products.”

The pharmaceutical and healthcare market is going quite fast for over-the-counter medication with much more choices in the medicine area, adds Sayers. “That’s why we’re bringing our brands into a lot of markets, especially in the Philippines: vitamins, Sensodyne which is our product for sensitivity in oral care, Calpol for children, Polident for denture care. What we want to do within the Philippines is to bring more and more of our global brands as fast as possible. Bring them in with the backing that GSK can offer: scientifically-driven and clinically-proven innovation in the marketplace.”

Sayers concludes, “It’s good to be here in the Philippines. I don’t think there’s more challenges in the Philippines than there are in other markets. But what’s good about the Philippines is the growth of the economy. Our job is to make things more accessible for people on a wider basis and bring in ideas as fast as we can. GSK spends a lot of money per annum on research. The idea is to bring solutions and innovation to the market including the Philippines since one of the big missions for GSK is to help people live longer, feel better and do more.”