MANILA, Philippines ? Most people are confused as to what ?generic name? in medicines really means. Say, ascorbic acid or vitamin C. There are a number of brands on the market marked ?ascorbic acid? but their prices immensely vary.

Are they equally potent? Is the pricier one more effective? Why not just buy the cheapest since they are just of the same content?

Pharex HealthCorp president Tomas Marcelo Agana III explains, ?The Bureau of Food and Drugs sets the generic name for medicines based on the active ingredient it contains. There is a so-called ?minimum requirement? and once a product has that, it could bear the generic name.?

The prices vary because of add-ons like extra ingredients, packaging, advertising and taxes.

Pharex recently launched Pharex Economix, an advocacy campaign to provide Filipinos a range of good quality and reasonably priced medicines.

?We practice unibranding or having one brand name for all products, unlike other medicines that have a particular name for individual items,? Agana says. ?Unibranding lessens the price of Pharex products.?

This is a new campaign for an old message?to make medicines more affordable for Filipinos.

Pharex is under the all-Filipino pharmaceutical house Pascual Laboratories. It sources raw materials in the open, global market and doesn?t pay ?royalty fees? that could be transferred to consumers.

?We are not the cheapest product in the market, but all our 33 unibranded products are of premium quality and are best for the middle-income buyers,? Agana says.

Pharex medicines are 50 percent cheaper than other brands, he says. The best-selling products are vitamins, cough and cold medicines, antibiotics, anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic drugs.

?Times are hard enough, and we want to give the Filipino the best value for their money in terms of medicines,? Agana adds.

Pharex also ties up with leading drugstores to promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos.