THE country’s leading generics company RiteMed Philippines Inc. (RiteMed) recently inked a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Euro-Med Laboratories Philippines Inc. (Euro-Med), the Philippines’s dominant intravenous-fluid (IV-fluid) manufacturer, for the delivery of quality and affordable medicines to hospitals nationwide.
Under the MOA, Euro-Med will be carrying and distributing all RiteMed pharmaceutical products to hospitals and health-care facilities within its network across the country, according to Unilab Inc. (Unilab) Senior Vice President for the RiteMed Inc. Group Jose Maria Ochave.
“Our vision is to provide access, not just to medicines, but to health care, in general. We share same visions with Euro-Med, being two Filipino-owned companies,” Ochave said during the MOA signing.
“What we can promise you is that for Unilab and RiteMed, this will be a long-term partnership; we do not go for short-term relationships,” Ochave added. “We will invest in this relationship, we will help each other.”
Euro-Med President Georgiana Evidente said “this new partnership with RiteMed will advance both companies’ advocacy of providing quality but affordable health-care products to the Filipino public.”
“We’re so glad to be here to mark this momentous occasion,” Evidente added. “Euro-Med is committed in growing the RiteMed business in the hospital sector and we look forward to a very long and fruitful partnership between the two companies.”
Ochave disclosed that the deal was almost a year in the making, as talks between RiteMed and Euro-Med started in May 2017.
“Right now, RiteMed is available only in the drugstores and our presence in the hospitals is very small. Together with Euro-Med, we hope to expand our footprint in the hospitals,” Ochave said.
He estimates that the hospital segment alone accounts for around 15 percent of the total market for pharmaceutical products.
Ochave said Euro-Med will be carrying and distributing the whole product line of RiteMed: from oral medicines to injectibles.
With this partnership, Ochave sees that Filipino patients would be able to cut their hospital bills, as affordable and quality medicines are now within their reach.
“The objective of RiteMed is always focused on improving access by competing with the others to bring prices down. So, hopefully, this will be an opportunity for us to further advance our campaign for greater access to quality health care,” he stressed.
RiteMed is a member of United Laboratories Group.