Media Releases

Back to all media releases

Dec 9, 2010

Novartis Philippines is 2010 Agora Awardee for advocacy marketing

  • Novartis Healthcare Philippines is this year's recipient of the prestigious Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy Marketing.
  • Now in its 31st year, the Agora Awards are given annually by the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) to outstanding individuals and companies who embody marketing excellence, versatility, innovation, and ingenuity.
  • Through its umbrella access program Kaagapay, Novartis Healthcare Philippines implements three key advocacies that provide better treatment options to more Filipino patients through innovative access-to-medicines programs; promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos; and develop local scientists and enhance the country's potential to be a research and development hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

Novartis Healthcare Philippines is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Agora Award for Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy Marketing.

Now in its 31st year, the Agora Awards are given annually by the Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) to outstanding individuals and companies who embody marketing excellence, versatility, innovation, and ingenuity. There are seven Agora Award categories: Marketing Company of the Year; Agora Award for Overseas Marketing Excellence; Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship, Marketing Management, Export Marketing, Marketing Education, and Advocacy Marketing.

Agora Award nominees pass through a stringent judging process overseen by a prestigious panel of judges is composed of top-level executives from leading Filipino corporations and institutions. The 2010 Agora Awards Board of Judges is composed of Mr. Vicente Dinglasan, president of IDS Logistics; Mr. Lance Gokongwei, president & CEO of Cebu Air, Inc.; Ms. Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, president of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Mr. Ray Gapuz, chairman of RA Gapuz Review Center, and Mr. Perpetuo de Claro, former general manager of Wyeth and 2007 Agora Awardee for Marketing Management.

The criteria for judging are so strict that winners were selected in only five of the seven categories this year: RFM Corporation for Export Marketing; Mr. Justin Uy of Profoods International Corporation for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship - Large Scale; Mr. Richard Suanz of Philippine Food Asia Corporation for Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship - Medium Scale; Ms. Margot Torres of McDonalds Philippines for Outstanding Achievement in Marketing Management; and Novartis Healthcare Philippines for Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy Marketing. 

“This award will inspire us to work even harder in implementing our key advocacies in partnership with the government and private sector stakeholders. Through our access and R&D initiatives, we are committed to helping improve the quality of life of Filipinos,” said, Novartis Healthcare Philippines CPO Head and Country President Mr. Eric van Oppens during the 2010 Agora Awards Night on November 23, 2010 at the Hotel Intercon in Makati City.

“Receiving recognition from the beacon of Filipino marketing excellence is a great honor that affirms our company’s commitment and passion to care for and cure Filipinos through our innovative access and public health initiatives. We are thankful for the award and will show our gratitude by continuing to help improve the quality of health care in the country,” said Ms. Christine F. Liwanag, Corporate Affairs and Market Access Director of Novartis Healthcare Philippines.

Through its umbrella access program Kaagapay, Novartis Healthcare Philippines implements three key advocacies that provide better treatment options to more Filipino patients through innovative access-to-medicines programs; promote a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos; and develop local scientists and enhance the country’s potential to be a research and development hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2009, Novartis Healthcare Philippines entered into a groundbreaking partnership with the Department of Health (DOH) to launch the DOH-Valsartan Access Program, which provides low-income Filipino patients with access to an effective blood-pressure lowering medicine (Valsartan). To date, the Novartis Malaria Initiative has provided over 172,260 treatments at no profit of its highly effective malaria drug (artemether/lumefantrine) to Filipino patients. Since 2003, the Novartis Oncology Access (NOA) program has helped provide the breakthrough treatment imatinib to over 1500 Filipino cancer patients. From 2006 to 2009 alone, benefits provided by the NOA program to Filipino cancer patients are valued at over 3 billion pesos.

In partnership with the DOH, medical societies and media, Novartis Healthcare Philippines actively promotes a health lifestyle through the annual commemoration of World Hypertension Day, which include a low-salt diet advocacy and dancercise contest. The company’s low-salt campaign got a significant boost when recent partner the Pancake Group introduced low-salt dishes in their chain of restaurants.

In partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Novartis Healthcare Philippines holds annual biotechnology workshops (BioCamp) for young, promising Filipino scientists and researchers. At the end of each workshop, two outstanding Filipino students are selected to represent the country in the prestigious International BioCamp. The Philippines is part of the Novartis International Clinical Research Organization, which conducts clinical trials for new medicines. After only over a year of operations, Novartis has allocated to the Philippines 16 clinical trial projects with over 40 sites.

“By helping the Philippines become an R&D hub, we believe that the quality of science and technology in the country would be enhanced and access to healthcare would further improve,” explained van Oppens.

Novartis Philippines through the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) is collaborating with the DOST in information exchange and knowledge transfer among foreign and local scientists in the area of tropical diseases such as dengue, tuberculosis and malaria. On September 2009, the NITD and Novartis Philippines in collaboration with the DOH, DOST and infectious disease organizations successfully held the 1st International Dengue Symposium in Manila.

About Novartis

Novartis provides healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Focused solely on healthcare, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines, diagnostic tools and consumer health products. Novartis is the only company with leading positions in these areas. In 2009, the Group’s continuing operations achieved net sales of USD 44.3 billion, while approximately USD 7.5 billion was invested in R&D activities throughout the Group. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ approximately 100,000 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.novartis.com.