Pharmacists have taken important steps to expand their knowledge of non-prescription drugs and challenges to improve the consumers’ knowledge. These changes in pharmacy practice and consumers’ attitudes are especially appropriate for our time. Because of our increased knowledge of the content and pharmacologic actions of non-prescription drugs and of their potential to affect the actions of prescription drugs, pharmacists are in a unique position to aid and advise patients, in the practice of (). “The involvement of the () is of key importance in helping patient’s condition and decide whether it is better to refer him or her to a physician or recommend a non-prescription drug. If a non-prescription drug is indicated, the pharmacist must be prepared to provide the clinical and product information necessary to help the patient make a “wise decision.”

Many pharmacists already have begun adopting the role of a (). There is growing demand for Home Care products and associated services and many pharmacists are establishing Free-Standing Convalescent Aid with exercise equipment and fitting rooms.

t is obvious that pharmacists are carefully analyzing the increasing public interest in preventive health strategies. Pharmacists are being advised to help develop ways of()adverse drug effects. Older persons also are most likely to require hospitalization secondary to an adverse drug reaction.

The ()drug department is unique in the pharmacy because of the opportunity it gives pharmacists to act in a primary care capacity while maintaining a competitive stance in the marketplace. In the () department pharmacists are constrained by a web of regulations and the complexities of physician-pharmacist-patient relationship.

Pharmacists should () themselves by counseling patients on the appropriate selection and use of drugs according to perceptions or myths perpetuated by OTC drug advertising and promotions. In addition, certain products are inappropriate in the right of the individual to self-medication.

In most societies the general concept of freedom is that a person is free to do whatever he likes provided it does not prove detrimental to his fellowmen. But the concept of what can be detrimental to his fellowmen is becoming gradually more sharply defined than it was in the ast. There is a clear concept that a person does not have the right to take such risks that will likely make him (for the rest of his life) dependent on the support of the community. But his principles do not usually prevent him from climbing mountains, despite the known risks, and one can therefore hardly argue that it could prevent him from taking medicines on his own initiative despite the presence of certain (perhaps calculated) risks. It is difficult to define clear limits to the () of the individual in such matters, but a number of () might be proposed.

The right of the individual to () may also be approached from the point of view that the average individual is sensible being, acting as rule, with common sense. It is well documented that many patients do not read the label of OTC drugs and thus may miss even the most prominent indications with oral warning which is often necessary and always appropriate.

It is important to understand that the active intervention advocated is (). It is not necessary to attempt to give advice to every patient in every purchase. Patients do not want to have eager pharmacists seeking to establish a complete drug and medication history to replenish the family stocks of aspirin tablets. On the other hand, most patients will appreciate the judicious intervention of pharmacists who have the health of the patient in mind.

To ask the right kind of questions and to offer the right kind of advice requires more than just appropriate technical knowledge. It requires a ()of the patient as an individual and the development of interpersonal skills which will facilitate good communication. The only thing that differentiates the OTC drug department in a pharmacy from a similar department in a food store is the Pharmacist. Appropriate assertiveness as a practicing health professional is the key to retaining and enlarging a satisfied well-educated clientele. The misuse of opium was limited to particular groups as in the misuse of narcotics at the present day. In another field, it might be pointed out that modern man is accustomed to dealing with high-risk products (motorcycles, electricity) provided that the risks involved are well-defined.

Pharmaceutical Marketing of drug products (OTC, ethical-OTC or ethical drugs) either in branded or generic forms by local and multinational drug companies, inevitably, is a normal () phenomenon in the industry particularly for those in sales and marketing operations that get into direct contact with sales and prescribing clients, and even directly to end-users.

Drug products used to be the domain of physicians and dentists who prescribe them to incoming patients and are officially dispensed in drug outlets by licensed pharmacists and pharmacy aids. We now hear loud noise in the airwaves through television and radio, cluttered with () of over-the-counter or proprietary drugs, even in the print media, encouraging the mass-based consumers to take on the challenge of actual product trials, continued patronage, repeat purchase, more frequent usage, and even recommending same to other people close to their hearts.

The drug outlets, more specifically the drugstores, carry in conspicuous spaces of their stores, product posters, mobiles, and other merchandising paraphernalia—product messages addressed to the end-users. Pharmaceutical products of large multinational and local companies are strategically placed at () and displayed in massive facings within shelves, cabinets, and display panels or racks.

The pharmacists of yesteryears used to be relegated behind the ()counters of drugstores and hospital pharmacies, merely compounding drugs and medicines. Today, drugs and medicines come in fully prepared, compounded formats, different shapes and sizes, colors, attractive packaging and designs, and unique features and perceived value to end-users, making obsolete the tasks of pharmacists at the Rx counters.

There are hundreds of brand names with the same () specifications, hundreds of manufacturers and traders, thousands of drugstores and hospital pharmacies nationwide, and a thousand and one marketing approaches focused to a particular target market segment or subsegment towards generating a bigger share of the market.

We are now faced with the challenge of meeting head-on, all these tremendous opportunities in the marketplace, with the revitalized campaign by the Department of Health (DOH) on the Generic Drugs Act of 1988. Likewise, with the increasingly keen competition for growth, leadership, and even survival in the drug industry jungle, we, in the marketing and business arena, have to() our innate skills and knowledge, awareness level, expertise and overall management capabilities toward efficiently managing with greater positive results, the pharmaceutical business that will provide a more meaningful health care delivery system for our children and children’s children.

revolves around large, medium, and small drug manufacturers and traders operating mostly in Metro Manila and nearby Luzon areas. A few have their own manufacturing plants and operate their own distribution network, like United Laboratories, Inc. Others, on a contract or subcontract manufacturing basis, operate through drug distributors

. The sources of prescriptions are ()(). The authority endorsers are the pharmacists, pharmacy aides, salesclerks, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals.

Many drug companies, chain drugstores, and hospital pharmacies, through their Annual Financial Statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), reported () sales and profits. All these drug companies and outlets shared practically the same set of core marketing concepts such as keen understanding of their products, services, the needs and wants of customers. They also have well-defined target markets, and a highly motivated and productive work force.

A number of drug companies, like the (), Inc., the largest pharmaceutical company in the Philippines and in the Far East, employ in their marketing concept the socalled (), and (), espousing the highest quality standards in terms of performance, attitudes, and expectations

Also, these companies constantly () employees to do things right the first time, anytime and all the time, in order to provide their customers, both external and internal, optimum and delightful satisfaction—all these over and above normal expectations.