Ferring Pharma wants to make difference in female healthcare

MANILA, Philippines - While the Philippine population continues to dramatically increase every year, there is still at least one in 10 Filipino couples still going through pregnancy failures.

Normally, this prompts them to undergo assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), or for more serious cases, some would resort to in vitro fertilization or IVF, which would cost a lot, especially that most patients prefer to travel overseas to get this treatment.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 186 million women in developing countries experience childlessness despite five years of attempting pregnancy or live birth. This translates to one in four couples with unfulfilled dreams of having a child. In the Philippines alone, it is estimated that nine percent of Filipino couples suffer from infertility issues.

Aside from struggling with infertility, maternal deaths have also been among the more serious problems faced by Filipino women these days. At least 211 mothers die for every 100,000 child births in the country — a high occurrence compared to the Department of Health’s goal to drop the figure to less than 50 deaths for every 100,000 births as part of the Millennium Development Goals.

Addressing the need to ensure better maternal health and safer childbirth, Ferring Pharmaceuticals delivers its female healthcare product line that consists of traditional, highly purified and standardized human-derived products at every stage of the reproductive cycle to ensure better maternal health and safe child birth.

“We hope that we can make a difference in female healthcare here in the Philippines with the products that we have available,” says Jane Villablanca, general manager of Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Philippine Representative Office.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a company founded by Dr. Frederik Paulsen in Sweden in 1950. Paulsen and his wife were the first scientists to synthesize peptides by producing adrenocorticotrophin hormone, or stress hormone.

Ferring also first established its research group in San Diego in 1996 and has since then been able to assemble a world-class peptide research organization and established collaborations with leading academic scientists.

Now based from global headquarters in Switzerland, Ferring develops innovative products in the four therapy areas of reproductive health, urology, gastroenterology, and orthopaedics.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals recently established its presence here in the Philippines, where maternal mortality is alarmingly high. It seeks to improve fertility treatments in the country by making its products more accessible to Filipino couples and to prevent deaths during childbirth by give lifesaving medications.

Villablanca continues: “For one, we want to help develop the infertility market in the Philippines. To cite an example, we are 100 million in population and we only had 900 cycles of IVF in the entire country in 2013, which is very low compared to a country like Russia whose population is 114 million yet they have 60,000 cycles. Thirty percent of those cycles are even subsidized by their government.”

Ferring has an extensive line of products that are helpful in IVF procedures. Based on controlled clinical trials, Ferring’s product, Menopur, resulted in 13 percent more live births compared to other agents. Menopur is its infertility treatment medicine.

Another popular product that helps treat infertility is Bravelle with the generic name of Urofollitropin, which is used to stimulate egg maturation, and to increase the potential for success in ART.

Ferring’s reproductive health products also help save the lives of mothers during childbirth by preventing hemorrhage and delaying imminent preterm birth.

Villablanca says, “We are the only company which is very active in obstetric research today. For several decades, no one has come out with a new medicine to prevent hemorrhage.”

Used to minimize post-delivery bleeding, Ferring carries a Carbetocin product with the brand name Duratocin. It is for women who have delivered their child by elective caesarean section under local anaesthetic around the spinal cord.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals is also actively partnering with physicians in private and public health institutions across the Philippines and with the government to help spread awareness about reproductive health.

Villablanca says, “Hopefully, we can reach more doctors and have a wider coverage nationwide. We also want to tap the government sectors, especially that public hospitals are where you see more women giving birth.”

The company is working closely with the DOH to extend its reach to healthcare workers across the country and provide more knowledge about maternal health. It also recently announced its partnership with the WHO to develop strategies and a product to reduce maternal mortality.

Villablanca says, “Although the Philippines is not part of the clinical trial that will be done to develop that new product, our company will be donating this product once this is developed since the Philippines has been identified as a country with high maternal deaths.”

Ferring Pharmaceuticals will continue to strengthen its presence in the country carrying its “People come first” philosophy. This means that the company will only make available its products in which it has full confidence, offer the best possible products at the most reasonable cost, and that its employees will always display courtesy and respect.

Its more than six decades of upholding a science-driven, instead of profit-based enterprise has made Ferring Pharmaceuticals a trusted company in the healthcare industry. With that, it will continue to have strong collaboration with healthcare sectors in the country to provide Filipinos the proper healthcare they deserve.