THAT’S the Watsons philosophy, which must be ingrained in everyone’s minds, especially those that believe that vanity is an avenue to good health. The ever-expanding beauty and health behemoth, with more than 330 stores across the archipelago, recently launched Watsons Generics, a wide portfolio of maintenance medicines, beauty ingestives and vitamins.
I used to think of Watsons as a store where you can find unique beauty products only previously available abroad, but, in fact, it started as a pharmacy before it became known as a beauty destination.
“For more than 170 years, Watsons has been providing health and wellness products to its customers worldwide,” says Danilo Ong, the chain’s health business unit director. “We are excited to do the same in the Philippines by allowing Filipino families to take charge of their health without the fear of financial burden.”
The generics line include maintenance medicines for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol, antibiotics to fight common bacteria, dietary supplements for skin enhancement, anti-aging and overall wellness, oral analgesics and over-the-counter remedies. That’s just the first phase, with more generic medicines to be launched soon to cater to the wider medical needs of Filipinos.
“Watsons Generics medicines are affordable, priced up to 80 percent lower against the leading brand-name counterparts, but Watsons ensures it balances the cost of operations [importation, distribution, packaging] while maintaining the high quality of its products in order to maintain competitive pricing,” says Bethsaida Pascual, the category manager. “Part of its cost can be attributed to the products being manufactured by trusted partners that have local and international certifications, which ensures that the medicines are of top quality.”
Watsons Generics products are manufactured by its trusted pharmaceutical partners. Locally, its partners are United Laboratories Inc., Pharex HealthCorp. and Innogen Pharmaceuticals Inc., while its international partners are Now Foods (USA), Sandoz (Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Turkey and Indonesia) and Steinbach Products Inc. (India and China).
“Our partner manufacturers are the ones who source the ingredients for Watsons Generics. Most of our active product ingredients are sourced from the US, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Taiwan and India. However, to ensure the quality, efficacy and safety of our generics line, we only choose trusted manufacturers who have received quality certifications and assurances from third-party organizations,” Pascual explains.
All products undergo a five-step quality-assurance process, which includes choosing the right partner, conducting rigorous research, select partner manufacturers that hold certificates for good manufacturing practices required by government regulatory agencies, undergo delivery inspections and ongoing postmarket surveillance. Watsons also engages a third-party auditor to check its products in the manufacturers’ facilities before they are produced for the branches.
If Watsons Generics medicines are so inexpensive, how can it ensure that its medicines are as potent as its brand-name counterparts?
“Watsons Generics medicines contain the same active ingredients as the original formulation, and are identical to the bioequivalence range of its brand-name counterparts,” says health business unit director Chiong.
Bioequivalence is defined as “the absence of a significant difference in the rate and extent to which the active ingredient in pharmaceutical equivalents or alternatives become available at the site of drug action when administered at the same molar dose under similar conditions in an appropriately designed study.”
For some of its beauty lines, Watsons enlisted such endorsers as beauty queens Venus Raj, Marie Ann Umali and Shamcey Supsup. For Watsons Generics, the endorsers are acclaimed actors Edu Manzano and Lorna Tolentino.
“Edu and Lorna have been esteemed personalities in the Philippine entertainment industry for decades. Watsons believes that Edu’s and Lorna’s endorsements and their impact on the overall brand will be of great significance,” says Karen Fabres, senior manager for marketing. “Besides being esteemed celebrity personalities, both can be role models when it comes to being proactive about taking care of one’s health. It is through their influence that Filipinos can be educated about their different health options, which will promote Watsons drive to address the gaps of health literacy in the country.”
As Watsons emphasizes its health legacy, I expect its stores to be equally divided into a pharmacy and a beauty emporium. Still, even with the Generics Drugs Act in full force, Watsons knows it has a long way to go.
“There seems to be a negative perception with regard to generic medicines due to low levels of literacy, hindering people from trying generic medicines. Watsons continues to help change the negative perception of generic medicines by providing its own quality generic line to the public. Ultimately, we hope to educate Filipino consumers on the efficacy of generic drugs and create a wider acceptance for it,” Chiong says.