GSK supports Mercury Drug's Bigay Lunas in providing medicines to 27,500 families

For the families living in Barangay Sta. Ana in Pateros, it was like having Christmas in March as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) supported Mercury Drug's "Operation Bigay Lunas" in providing quality and affordable medicines to their community.

Aside from Pateros, residents from 10 other sites in Edsa Munoz, Sta. Cruz, Cainta, Cavite and even as far away as Isabela, Palawan, Dagupan, Zambales and Iloilo packed Bigay Lunas venues set up in their respective hometowns to avail of free health consultation and check-ups provided onsite. To ensure that residents get the treatment they need, medicines known for their trusted brands and quality were provided to them for free. Through the health service and medicines provided, members of the community were able to take responsibility for their health and treat common ailments such as cough, bacterial infections and asthma.

The activity is in line with GSK's Value Health program, which was established in response to the need for more Filipinos to have access to high quality and afforable medicines. Launched in 2004, the program offers significant price reductions for GSK’s original branded medicines that treat common ailments.

"There are millions of Filipinos out there who continue to suffer from common health problems because they cannot afford the medicine. Through our Value Health program, which offers as much as 34% price reduction for a wide range of our products, we are finally putting these trusted brands within their reach," says Daisy Cembrano, Vice President for Business Development and Commercial Strategy of GSK.

Mercury Drug's Operation Bigay Lunas, with the support of companies such as GSK and its Value Health program, has benefited around 27,500 families this year and improved the health of hundreds of thousands of families since the program began ten years ago.

As one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, GSK is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.



Volunteers from GSK Value Health and Mercury Drug staff at the Operation Bigay Lunas activity in Pateros




Mother and child avail of free check-ups at Operation Bigay Lunas in Pateros



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We are the only pharmaceutical company to tackle the three "priority" diseases identified by the World Health Organization: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
Our business employs over 100,000 people in 117 countries
We make almost four billion packs of medicines and healthcare products every year
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We supply one quarter of the world's vaccines and by the end of 2007 we had 23 vaccines in clinical development
To date, we have donated over 750 million albendazole tablets to help elimitate lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) in the world
In 2006 we shipped 126 million tablets of preferentially-priced Combivir and Epivir (our HIV treatments) to developing countries
Almost 100 countries benefitted from our humanitarian product donations