RHEA Generics Broadens Reach Across Visayas Region

The RHEA Generics Trade Launch continued its nationwide rollout with its third leg held on June 2 at bai Hotel in Cebu, following earlier runs in Luzon and Metro Manila. The Cebu leg marked another step in expanding the presence of affordable generic medicines across key regional markets in the Philippines.

The event gathered some of the regional representatives of global pharmaceutical partners in Visayas and executives from Mercury Drug, including the Vice President for Chainstore  Operations — Visayas and Mindanao, Janet Palma, and the Senior Vice President for Merchandising, Corazon Lim.

Cebu, positioned at the center of the Visayas trade corridor, provided a fitting setting for discussions on expanding generics portfolio, market presence, and patient access across the region. As one of the country’s key urban and commercial hubs, it continues to serve as a convergence point for healthcare-related engagements and trade discussions.

At the heart of the program is the partnership between RHEA Generics and its global pharmaceutical partners, united by a shared goal of making affordable medicines more accessible to Filipinos without compromising quality. Through this collaboration, RHEA Generics offers products manufactured to the same world-class standards as innovator brands, providing patients with confidence in the safety, efficacy, and quality of the medicines they take.

For many Filipino households, generic medicines remain a practical option for managing everyday health needs and long-term maintenance treatments. While cost remains a key consideration, ease of access and product visibility within drugstore channels play an equally important role in supporting continuity of care. When medicines are consistently present where patients routinely obtain their prescriptions, continuity of treatment becomes more manageable.

The Department of Health has long supported generic medicines as safe and effective alternatives to branded products, aligning with broader efforts to widen access to essential healthcare nationwide. Complementing this, available studies on medicine access in the Philippines note that availability at the point of purchase continues to influence whether patients are able to complete prescribed treatments, particularly outside highly urbanized areas.

Within this context, the RHEA Generics Trade Launch served as a focused engagement platform for key players in the healthcare ecosystem. It brought together Pfizer, Viatris, Sanofi, GSK, Otsuka, Merck, Fresenius Kabi, AstraZeneca, Lundbeck, OEP Philippines, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Sandoz, Menarini, and the country’s leading drugstore, Mercury Drug, to strengthen medicine access, support market engagement, and sustain alignment in expanding access across regional markets.

The Cebu leg highlighted the story behind RHEA Generics and its mission of making world-class quality medicines more attainable for Filipino families through reliable and affordable generic alternatives. This was brought to life through a dynamic combination of presentations and interactive activities, drawing attention to the role of accessible generic medicines in public health.

As the nationwide series progresses, a consistent direction remains clear: access to medicines is shaped not only by affordability, but also by how consistently products are made visible and accessible to the communities that rely on them.

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RHEA. Basta Kalusugan, Maaasahan Mo. 

​​ ✅ RHEA Generics is available at Mercury Drug branches nationwide.