Watsons, Unilab introduce Antibiotics Compliance Packs

MANILA, Philippines - Watsons Pharmacy and pharmaceutical manufacturer Unilab recently launched the Antibiotics Compliance Pack to promote and teach proper antibiotic use to Filipinos and to help prevent the emergence of superbugs (antibiotic-resistant bacteria).

The Antibiotics Compliance Packs are now being sold exclusively in all outlets of Watsons Pharmacy.

The Compliance Packs contain prepackaged antibiotics in amounts that are usually prescribed by doctors to patients. They are priced 40 to 60 percent lower compared to multi-national brands. The antibiotics in these packs are of guaranteed quality and effectiveness, sourced from Unilab.

“When we heard about the project (Antibiotics Compliance Packs) we agreed right away to be part of it. That’s because making medicine more affordable to more Filipinos is an advocacy of Unilab,” said lawyer Jose Maria Ochave, corporate VP for the Business Development Group of Unilab.

Ochave said that Unilab keeps improving its initiative in lowering the prices of its medicine. It manufactures and markets off-patent pharmaceuticals that are just as effective, yet more affordable, compared to equivalent branded drugs.

The antibiotics manufactured by Unilab, which cost 40 to 60 percent lower than multinational brands, are packaged in the Compliance Packs.

According to Lyle Joseph Morrell, health business unit head of Watsons, the lower prices of quality antibiotics being sold in Compliance Packs will help patients use antibiotics more properly.

As an example, Morrell mentioned Amoxicillin 500mg, the most basic type of antibiotic used to treat patients with community acquired infections.

“A full dosage of Amoxicillin 500mg costs P273 if one buys from a multinational brand. On the other hand, a full dose of Amoxicillin 500mg in a Compliance Pack costs only P110. That’s already a savings of 60 percent if the consumer buys the Compliance Pack,” said Morrell.

During the launch, a lecture on improper antibiotic use and superbugs — antibiotic-resistant bacteria that no longer treatable by the antibiotics being used today — was presented by Dr. Rontgene Solante, president of the Philippines Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Solante said the number one cause of superbugs emergence is improper use of antibiotics. “If we keep using antibiotics improperly, the day may come when our antibiotics no longer work against bacterial infections — we will have an infectious disease apocalypse that will endanger the human race,” he said.