Pfizer unit aiming to double market share in Thailand

Upjohn, a subsidiary of American pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer, will rely on digital marketing and doctor outreach as it seeks to double its business in Thailand by 2025.

“Pfizer created Upjohn to focus on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) more comprehensively and provide quality, trusted medical care,” said Sachin Rustagi, Upjohn’s regional chief of research and development.

Pfizer founded the subsidiary in November 2018, and it has been officially operating in Thailand since May this year. Pfizer does a booming business in the Kingdom and its most consumed medications include Lipitor, Viagra, Celebrex, and Zoloft.

“We need to have intersectional partnerships among the government, businesses, as well as professional and civil societies to effectively translate urgent policy priorities into action,” Rustagi said.

Tropical countries are often associated with infectious diseases such as malaria. In a middle-income country like Thailand, non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and others have become the leading public health problems. In the Kingdom, 75 percent of annual deaths are from NCDs, or about 350,000 people, 55 percent of whom are below age 70.

Thailand has a robust public health system, and last week CEOWORLD, a U.S. magazine, rated the Kingdom’s healthcare the sixth-best in the world.

Upjohn is aiming for 1.5 million customers or patients by 2020, and 2 million by 2025, up from the 1 million it has today. The 2025 goal would be about a third of the 6.2 million patients in Thailand that the company estimates that its medications could help.

Photo courtesy of https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1752564/pfizer-unit-upjohn-plots-thai-expansion