The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) plans to revamp its structure to make it as flexible as the private firms it competes with in the lucrative food-supplement and cosmetic markets, its managing director said yesterday.

 Lt-General Dr Mongkol Jivasantikarn said the revamp would enable the GPO to double sales to Bt10 billion a year within five years.

The government agency under the Ministry of Public Health manufactures and sells medicines. It has also launched a new product line that includes skincare products, which competes with products from multinationals.

The GPO has been hamstrung in competing with private firms because it must follow complex bureaucratic regulations, Mongkol said. As a result, it plans to set up a company that will function as its marketing arm for all products: medicines, food supplements and cosmetics.

It will shift some staff to the new unit and also adjust staffing within the GPO, which after the revamp will function solely as a manufacturer.

Setting up the marketing company will simplify and hasten the marketing and sales of its products, Mongkol said. The new company will be able to set up a direct-sales marketing system, similar to those used by competitors, he added.

Mongkol said the skincare line it launched a few years ago had been popular. Because the line came from the GPO, consumers felt assured that the products were healthy and safe.

The GPO will not wait for the revamp to be completed before it launches a new product line, a food supplement called GPO Nature Plex. The first product in the line is a blend of five Thai herbs. Each 10-capsule box sells for Bt450, less than half that of competing products.

The GPO will spend Bt5 million to market the new product until September, the end of its fiscal year. It is aiming for sales of Bt50 million in the period, he said.

The product had a soft launch last year, and monthly sales have totalled Bt3 million to Bt4 million. The GPO will launch another product in the line this year.

Foreign firms have dominated the food-supplement market. Their products control up to 80 per cent of it. The GPO is hoping to see Thai products take a larger local share.

It also plans to export its skincare and food-supplement products.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation