Bangkok--5 Jul--Bangkok Public Relations
- Launches nation-wide ‘Quality Drugs’ campaign through printed and radio advertising
- Adds a concise ‘Patient Information Leaflet’ to medicines to help patients read essential instructions and recommendations easily
- Seven-tips offered to help patients take medication properly for maximum benefit from medicines
Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Thailand’s largest research-based biopharmaceutical company, today launched a ‘Quality Drugs’ campaign to help patients better benefit from the use of medicines.
“The best patient care flows from the collaboration of the three key healthcare partners — doctors and health care professionals who diagnose and prescribe treatment, drug developers and manufacturers who innovate and produce medicines, and patients themselves,” said Mr. Manu Sawang-Jaeng, Country Manager for Pfizer Thailand and Indochina.
“Our campaign is about helping patients do their part by encouraging them to use medicines correctly and responsibly so that they can better benefit from quality and innovative medicines. We are conducting the campaign through patient information leaflets, as well as printed and radio advertising. We’re investing tens of millions of baht in addition to the executive time to work with regulatory authorities to get such an undertaking approved, as well as to transport these leaflets to hospitals, drugstores, and clinics,” he said.
“As a first step, we have produced a ‘Patient Information Leaflet’ that provides patients, in easy-to-read form, essential information about their medicine, answers to common questions from patients, as well as tips on the safe use of medicines. We’ve intentionally printed the information sheet in large, legible font to help patients read the information with ease. Any patient using Pfizer medicines should ask for this Patient Information Leaflet when receive a Pfizer drug from any pharmacy or hospital,” said Mr. Manu.
According to Dr. Amphorn Ittiravivongs, Medical Director for Pfizer Thailand and Indochina, “Even when buying clothes or toys for our children, we look to see where they are made and who the manufacturers are. A patient needs to do the same with a medicine because the standards of manufacture and the quality of all medicines are not the same. Levels of purity and the consistency of dosage can vary depending on the quality of manufacturing. These variations can affect the ability of a medicine to do its job well and even its safety. The patient needs to check and make sure that the drug manufacturer is a trusted one and, as with any consumer product, patients have the right to pursue legal action against a manufacturer if the product appears to be of sub-standard quality or defective.”
He said that as a part of the campaign, Pfizer is recommending patients follow seven easy tips for the safe use of medicines.
The seven easy tips include “checking the expiry date of a medicine indicated on packaging, checking to see if the medicine is produced by a reputable manufacturer, keeping medicines stored at the right temperature, immediately reporting to a doctor any side-effects, and, most important of all, to always consult a doctor before taking medicines.
Seven Tips for Safe Use of Medicines
1. Consult your doctor and pharmacist before taking medicines and follow the doctor’s directions in terms of when and how to use medicines
2. Inform doctors and pharmacists of medicines you are already consuming and/or are allergic to
3. Check if the medicine is produced by a reputable manufacturer
4. Check the expiry date on the packaging
5. Store your medicine at the appropriate temperature
6. Report any symptoms of side-effects to your doctor immediately
7. Read the ‘Patient Information Leaflet’ and follow instructions carefully.
Additional patient information is available at the Pfizer Medical Information Center, telephone. 02 665-4540 (Monday to Friday).