MANILA, Philippines?Carlos ?Do? Ejercito, president and CEO of Unilab, hosted a gathering of friends and healthcare partners earlier this week to give an update on the company?s upcoming programs. In a country dominated by foreign multinational companies, Filipino-owned Unilab is the largest pharmaceutical company in the Philippines with a market share of more than 20 percent or a fifth of the pharma industry.

But manufacturers?of either drugs or foods?figuratively have a sword of Damocles constantly hanging above their heads. Any breach in their stringent manufacturing procedures can result in a defective product which may not only lack efficacy, but worse, may inflict some harm on those who take these preparations.

A classical recent example is the melamine contamination of milk products from China. Any such contamination in a pharmaceutical preparation?particularly if it?s an over-the-counter or OTC product?can result in serious side-effects of countless consumers. A single mishap like this can cause the downfall of even manufacturing giants.

Extra conscious

It is just proper that drug manufacturers like Unilab are extra-conscious with quality assurance in every part of their manufacturing chain. This consciousness must border on obsession to make sure that everything, up to the tiniest detail in the manufacturing procedure, complies with universal standard requirements. ?Do? says that Unilab has special teams which inspect the manufacturing plants of all suppliers?from the active raw materials to the added incipient including sugar and flavoring for their syrup preparations.

Unilab has indeed gone a long way from its humble beginnings as a small drugstore in war-torn Manila, founded by the late JY Campos in 1945. Now it manufactures and distributes over 300 prescription and consumer health brands treating common illnesses and chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol problems and tuberculosis.

But ?Do? admits that Unilab was not really known for high-quality medicines many years back. He relates the story of a Unilab medical representative who brought his child to his pediatrician but when the doctor was about to prescribe a Unilab product, the medical representative told him: ?Ibang produkto na lang, Dok. Anak ko na ito!? Way back then, even their own employees doubted the quality of their products.

Strict standards

But things have definitely changed, according to ?Do.? Over the last decade, they reviewed all their manufacturing practices and made sure beyond any doubt, that all strict standards are followed, and quality assurance is never left to chance. They have reached such a level of confidence that they?re staking their entire corporate reputation with every product that comes out of their plant.

Last year, they inaugurated a multibillion-peso manufacturing plant in Mamplasan, Biñan, Laguna. It?s reputed to be one of the biggest and most modern plants in Southeast Asia, capable of producing more than a billion tablets a year. It currently produces mostly prescription medicines in tablet, capsule and powder form, as well as ointments and nonsteroid creams.

According to Jocelyn Campos Hess, Unilab chair, the Amherst plant is only part of a planned world-class pharmaceutical complex which should make Unilab a quality and cost leader not only in the domestic pharmaceutical industry but in the international arena as well.

Unilab is a local company that made good; Natrapharm is another one. There are at least a dozen others which are potential Unilabs and Natrapharms. In the wake of the cheaper medicine law, it?s certain that local generic companies will mushroom; and it is likely that to cut down on cost to be able to sell the medicine at the lowest price possible, quality may be compromised.

These smaller companies can take a lesson from the established pharmaceutical companies like Unilab. Making medicines cheap is not enough. For drug companies to grow and last long in the industry; and for them to earn the respect and patronage of both doctors and patients, they must show one and all that they?re willing to stake their name and reputation on the quality of the drugs they market. And perhaps, as in the soon-to-be-launched ad campaign of Unilab, patients would ask when someone gives them a pill: ?Unilab ba ?yan??