Pharex spearheads campaign against antimicrobial resistance

MANILA, Philippines - In a country where people tend to self-medicate and not follow their doctor’s order, the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become dangerously widespread. Pharmaceutical company Pharex is taking on the fight against AMR with its recently launched nationwide campaign that goes to the heart of the problem.

Called “Masunurin Advocacy,” Pharex urges people to be “masunurin sa reseta ni doktor.” Pharex’s CSR campaign is in conjunction with the World Health Organization’s awareness campaign on AMR. Last April 7, WHO declared World Health Day as Combat AMR Day. According to its studies, infections caused by resistant microorganisms often fail to respond to conventional treatment, resulting in prolonged illness and greater risk of death. About 440,000 new cases of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) emerge annually, causing 150,000 deaths.

What is AMR? It is a resistance of “a microorganism to an antimicrobial medicine to which it was previously sensitive,” according to WHO. “Resistant organisms (they include bacteria, viruses and some parasites) are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, antivirals, and antimalarials, so that standard treatments become ineffective and infections persist and may spread to others. AMR is a consequence of the use, particularly the misuse, of antimicrobial medicines and develops when a microorganism mutates or acquires a resistance gene.”

Dr. Rontgene Solante, president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, says, “We are now facing a world where there is no safeguard to the threat posed by revolutionary diseases caused by increasing antibiotic resistant microorganisms. There will come a time when increased antibiotic resistance in humans and the lack of antibiotic development can alarmingly lead to a future where we don’t have any antibiotic anymore for whatever infection.”

Pharex has created first-line-defense antibiotics in Masunurin Value Packs, which are specially packaged antibiotics at minimum full-doses. The meds are in a re-sealable foil packaging with Zip-lock for carrying convenience in completing the treatment.

Enter Pharex and its Masunurin advocacy. Pharex president and CEO Tomas Marcelo Agana says, “Filipinos need to know that patient compliance or adherence to antibiotic therapy is important. Sumunod kayo sa reseta ni doktor. Most often, patients would buy only two or three capsules, good for a day or two, when the prescription calls for a seven-day therapy. A lot of them may feel better after two days, the symptoms are gone, and they stop taking the medicines. The problem is that the bacteria has not been totally eradicated but it has also developed resistance.”

Any kind of attempt to modify behavior is a great challenge — especially with Pinoys — so Pharex is promoting its advocacy at full blast: on radio, print, merchandising materials and through its people on the field.

So how do you encourage patients who are matigas ang ulo to follow the doctor’s order? By making it easy for them to do so. Pharex has created first-line-defense antibiotics in Masunurin Value Packs, which are specially packaged antibiotics at minimum full-doses. The meds are in a re-sealable foil packaging with Zip-lock for carrying convenience in completing the treatment.

The packaging is important because patients tend to lose their blister-packed meds or forget how many they have taken and should still take (or buy if they didn’t get the total number of meds the doctor has prescribed.)

Agana says the Masunurin Value Packs have built-in adherence mechanisms. “The pack is portable to carry around in your pocket or in your bag. Plus there is the printed message that it must be consumed within five days for full compliance.”

He adds that some patients, even if they want to, do not follow the full therapy because of economic reasons, so Pharex has priced the Masunurin packs very low. Patients can save as much as 52 percent compared with the same meds in individual blister packs. The packaging and the price make it easy for a patient — even one na matigas ang ulo — to abide by their medication.

Agana warns against self-medication and inadequate dosing, adding that over-the-counter drug purchase without proper prescription can cause AMR. “We must always let a doctor diagnose us for the appropriate treatment. You may think you need antibiotics when in fact you don’t like when your infection is viral instead of bacterial.”

Doctors, for their their part, are encouraged to avoid inappropriate prescription and to educate their patients and make them aware that antibiotics are not the cure for all types of infections because not all infections are caused by bacteria.

Dr. Solante adds that the Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases “strongly advocates antibiotic compliance program, which aims to educate Filipinos on the importance of strictly complying with antibiotic medications to combat illnesses. It is our hope that through the Masunurin campaign, we lessen the impact of antibiotic resistance to provide longer, improved health for Filipinos.”